


The Wrinkles of the Road

by beeezie



Series: (Sidenote: Scorose) [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Community: HPFT, Dark, Drama, F/F, F/M, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-04-23 11:41:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 41,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4875502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeezie/pseuds/beeezie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You'd think that adrenaline-fueled Gryffindor girls who fight monsters and even-tempered manipulative Slytherin boys training to be Healers would not mix well. You would (probably) be wrong.</p><p> <i>Sequel to 'Curiosity Is Not a Sin'</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rose. --- A Weasley Family Saturday

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel to my story "Curiosity Is Not a Sin," but it should be able to stand on its own as well; it's set several years later and early in their professional lives, so it's a different setting and has a bit of a darker backdrop. I hope that both CINAS readers and new readers enjoy it.
> 
> _Please note: the title of the story taken from the poem 'It sifts from Leaden Sieves' by Emily Dickinson._

Rose never would have admitted it to anyone except her boyfriend and _maybe_ her cousin Albus, but family Saturdays at the Burrow were really one of her favourite ways to spend her time. She hadn’t properly appreciated them when she was younger, but now that they were significantly less frequent, she was grateful for them. She rarely got to see most of her aunts and uncles outside of them, and she often found it difficult to coordinate her schedule with that of most of her cousins, even the ones she considered herself close to.

She saw Albus on a regular basis because he was Albus. She saw Lucy because they shared a flat on the outskirts of Northern London. And she saw Victoire and James at work.

And often, for weeks at a time, that was it. Lily was still at Hogwarts, along with Rose’s brother Hugo. Roxanne was busy with her budding Quidditch career, Fred was working to expand the joke shop, and Dominique was simply too busy.

And she rarely saw the others outside of family gatherings at all.

Even when she was just sitting alone by the window in her grandparents’ living room, watching Fred bewitch snowballs to pelt Molly in the back of the head no matter what direction she was looking in, there was a sense of togetherness that she could never seem to find anywhere else.

There was just something about being in her grandparents’ house that made any other problems she had melt away.

“Hey.” She looked up just as Albus dropped onto the window seat across from her. His nose was still red from being outside, and there were flakes of snow clinging to his dark red hair. “Watching Fred?” She nodded, and he grinned broadly. “She’s going to hex him to next Friday soon.”

“I don’t doubt it.” She cocked her head to the side. “How have you been? I haven’t seen you much in the last couple weeks.”

His smile faded, and he slouched against the wall behind him. “The Aurors decided I was ready to move onto occlumency training, and it's a nightmare. I’m rubbish at it, and sometimes they have Bridget practise her legilimency on _me.”_ He made a disgusted face, and Rose refrained from pointing out that wanting to keep his not-quite-girlfriend out of his mind should be good incentive; she knew Albus didn’t work that way. “That’s always _fun._ Then after work, it’s always, ‘Al, you never told me that-’” He broke off and sighed. “Anyway. That’s why you haven’t seen me. How’s the D.C.B.?”

She shrugged. “Oh, you know. I’ve got a couple of nicks and bruises, but they’ve still got me on a tight leash - they haven’t let me near anything more interesting than a grindylow.” He didn’t look very sympathetic, and she supposed she couldn’t blame him; when she’d joined the Dangerous Creatures Bureau, they’d told her she’d have four months of training and that once she’d completed that, they would ease her into real field work. They’d kept their word; it was January, and she suspected they’d boost her up to a real XXXX creature in a matter of weeks.

Albus, on the other hand, had to go through another two and a half years of training to be a fully-fledged Auror, and he couldn't expect to go into the field until his third year of training.

He was beginning to look a little annoyed, so Rose directed her gaze across the room and changed the subject. “Remember when those two hated each other?” she asked.

Her cousin followed her line of vision to where his brother was sitting with her boyfriend. From the animated hand gestures and occasional loud exclamations, they had to be talking about either Quidditch or Healing. Ever since his first trip to St. Mungo’s since joining the D.C.B. the year before, James had developed a keen interest in Healing.

“Well, I don’t have the patience to _do_ it,” he’d said when she teased him about quitting the Ministry and starting in on Healer training instead. “I just think it’s interesting. I mean, they can really repair the human body. It makes me a lot less nervous about being reckless!”

Given how little concern James had _ever_ showed for his safety, Rose was still a little worried about what “a lot less nervous” meant.

Albus snorted as he slouched against the wall and rested his feet on her seat. “Yeah, well, _you_ used to hate him, too.”

Rose made a face. “Shut up.” Just as she was about to look away from them, Scorpius glanced up. When he saw her eyes on him, he grinned at her. She smiled back and blew him a kiss, and his grin turned into a smirk as he looked back at James.

“You know, I thought he’d get over being pleased with himself for going out with you eventually,” Albus remarked offhandedly. She glanced over at him; he was looking out the window again. Molly had finally tired of Fred’s antics and had her wand out, and Fred was dodging her jinxes with only limited success. One of his feet had swelled to be about as big as a pumpkin, and his hair was bright purple. “It’s been more than three years, though, and he still hasn’t really gotten over it.”

“Well, I’m pretty great.” Rose put her feet up next to him. “Can you blame him?”

Albus rolled his eyes. “Yes. Yes, I can. Unlike my best friend, _I_ can see how obnoxious you are.”

“Oh, he does, don't worry.” Rose glanced back out the window. Fred had several bright spots on his cheek, but he appeared to have rallied; Molly was now struggling to stop laughing long enough to perform to countercharm. “He just forgives me for it.”

“How’ve things been between you and Scorpius?” Albus asked. “I’ve barely talked to him, either. I’m turning into a hermit.”

Rose suspected that this might have at least as much to do with his girl issues as his training, but she’d long since learned not to press Albus too much on the topic. He’d talk when he was ready to.

“Good. Or, I think it is, anyway. It’s hard to be sure with him sometimes.”

Albus sighed. “He’s just a little worried about you starting to do fieldwork. He knows how often D.C.B. members are in and out of St. Mungo’s, and it’s hard for him to think about his boss interrupting his day to tell him that you’ve been carted in there.”

Rose had been trying very hard not to think about that; it was a conversation that both she and Scorpius had been pointedly avoiding, though she knew that as a Healer trainee it was definitely starting to weigh on him. There wasn’t really much she could do about it, though, other than try to keep herself out of St. Mungo’s in the first place.

“I know.” She winked at Albus. “But I make it worth his while.”

Albus recoiled. “Ew.” He changed the subject, and inwardly, she heaved a sigh of relief that she’d managed to deflect the conversation for a little longer.

Rose was good at avoiding things she didn't want to deal with. According to Albus, it would catch up with her eventually, but she doubted that: it was her experience that when you avoided problems for long enough, they just went away.

Dinner was predictably good; she had the chance to catch up with Louis, who she’d always gotten on quite well with but hadn’t really had the opportunity to talk to much lately. Scorpius seemed to have retreated back to Albus, which she supposed wasn’t very surprising; this was the first Weasley family Saturday he’d been to, and he was clearly still a little uncomfortable. The fact that he’d gravitated toward James earlier in the day as a familiar presence was progress in and of itself - they’d gotten along better in Hogwarts after Rose had started going out with Scorpius, but they’d certainly never been what she would call close.

James was clearly preferable compared to the rest of her cousins, however, most of whom Scorpius didn’t know very well at all.

By the time they finished dinner, she could tell by the way he was fidgeting that he’d clearly had enough. As Teddy and her grandmother took charge of the dishes and everyone else began to file back into the living room, she grabbed his hand and said in an undertone, “Do you want to get going?” The relief was clear on his face, and she kissed his cheek. “Just let me say goodbye.”

“Goodbye” took about twenty minutes, and by the time they stepped out of the house, the sky had grown dark.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” she asked, looking up at the sky.

“Mm.” He wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on hers. It still felt a little strange - he'd been about her height for most of their relationship, but toward the end of their seventh year he'd had an unexpected growth spurt that left him about sixteen centimetres taller than she was. “Do you want to go home or come back to my place?”

She felt a smile spread across her face. “You’re not tired of the Weasley clan yet?”

“Not you.” He kissed the top of her head. “So?”

Rose twisted around and stood on her tiptoes to brush her lips against his. “I’d love to go back to your place."

In the dim light cast by the glow from the windows, she could see a sparkle in Scorpius's grey eyes. “Oh, good.” He took her hand and turned on his heel, and when she opened her eyes, they were standing in front of the door to his flat.

He let go of her hand to pull out his wand. He tapped the lock and muttered something under his breath, and after a moment, they heard the deadbolt sliding back. He pushed the door open and she followed him in, pushing it closed behind her. The locks reengaged as they made their way into the living room, where he collapsed onto his couch.

She paused in the doorway to watch him. The light in the hallway had flickered on when they’d walked in, and he pointed his wand at another orb on the wall before tossing it onto the table. The orb began to glow, and he looked over at her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She smiled when he shifted uncomfortably. “What? I’m not allowed to admire my boyfriend?”

He snorted. “Admire me from over here.” He patted the cushion next to him. “If you’re over there, I can’t touch you.” She raised her eyebrows, and he made a face. “You know what I mean.”

She made her way across the room and settled next to him. “Thanks for coming,” she said as she snuggled up to him and put her head on his chest.

He wrapped an arm around her and began to run his fingers through her bright red curls. “It was fun. I mean, I felt a little awkward, but it was still fun.” Rose closed her eyes and inhaled his scent. Just as she was beginning to doze off, he cleared his throat. “Hey, Rose?”

“Mm?”

He hesitated for moment. “Would you go to something like that with my family?”

“Sure,” she said sleepily. Her eyes were starting to drift shut, and she had no desire to move. “I like the Greengrasses.”

He didn’t respond for a minute, and her contentedness started to slip away. “Not my mum’s family,” he said finally. “My dad’s.”

She jerked back to stare at him. He looked serious, which she supposed made some sense - it was hardly something to joke about. “Your dad doesn’t have much family,” she said quickly, though from the way his jaw was set, she knew he wouldn’t let her get away with the deflection.

Not this time.

“That’s not the point.”

She inched back from him a little and drew her knees up to her chest. “Your grandfather was a Death Eater,” she hissed.

“So was my father.”

Rose snorted. “And as you’ve pointed out about fifty times in the last few years, that’s different.”

And it was different. Rose had met Scorpius’s parents. To her slight surprise, she’d even found that she liked Scorpius’s parents. His mother was a bit more friendly and his father more reticent, but even so, she’d never felt anything but welcome by them.

But his grandparents were different.

She could see how Scorpius’s father could have changed. He was still in school when You-Know-Who took over, and at least as far as she knew, he’d never actually done anything _really_ bad. In fact, from a few things Scorpius had said over the years, Rose really wondered what exactly he’d had done _to_ him.

Scorpius’s grandfather, on the other hand, had definitely done a lot of terrible things in the wars. Rose was fairly certain he’d murdered people. She _knew_ he’d used the Imperius Curse on his own son - Scorpius had told her that, back when they’d first started going out. The only reason Lucius Malfoy wasn't in Azkaban was that Scorpius's grandmother had helped the Order in the Battle of Hogwarts. He might well be a decent grandfather to his pureblood grandson, but somehow she had a feeling that he'd be less decent to the halfblood who could potentially pollute the family’s lineage.

“I know,” Scorpius said. “But he’s still my grandfather.”

Rose snorted. “Right. And I’m sure he’s so eager to meet me. I’m diluting his family’s blood, remember?”

Scorpius let his head fall back back to rest on the couch. “Rose, I wouldn’t-” She raised her eyebrows when he glanced over at her, and he sighed. “Look, if he said anything to you, we’d leave and I wouldn’t speak to him again.”

She didn’t challenge him on that. She didn’t doubt that what he was saying was true.

But it also wasn’t the point, and in some ways, the idea that the meeting could destroy Scorpius's relationship with his grandfather made her want to meet the man even less.

“I can’t.” His eyes met hers, and despite the hurt look in his eyes, she didn’t falter. “Scorpius, I can’t.”

He closed his eyes, and she felt a quick stab of guilt. “How about just my grandmother?” She could barely hear his voice.

“Your grandmother?”

He lifted his head and looked at her. “Yeah. Just my grandmother.” She hesitated. “We can meet her for lunch somewhere. You won’t even have to go to the manor.”

“I don’t know.”

Scorpius clearly saw her ambivalence as the perfect opening, because he added quickly, “Rose, please. Just once. If it doesn’t go well, I won’t bring it up again.”

She considered him. “Liar,” she said after a moment.

The corner of his mouth twitched, and he pushed his blonde hair back from his face. “Fine. I’ll give it at least six months.” His expression grew serious again. “And if she brings up your blood, I won’t ever mention it again. But I know she won't.”

“Why not?”

“Because my grandmother loves me, and she’s not an idiot. She knows how pissed off I'd be if she did, and anyway, she's been pushing to meet you for years. She’ll make an effort.”

Rose sighed and looked away from him. “I’ll think about it.”

He slung his legs off the couch and scooted over to put his arm around her shoulders. “Thank you.” He kissed her forehead.

“I didn’t say yes,” she reminded him as he began to run his fingers through her hair.

“I know,” he murmured. He put his other hand underneath her chin, and she allowed him to lift her head. “I love you.”

Rose felt her trepidation begin to melt away. “I love you, too.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to pull her into his lap. “You’re a good boyfriend,” she said, brushing her lips against his.

He smiled. “I know,” he repeated. His grip on her tightened, and he leaned down to kiss her. When they broke away for air, he added, “You’re not so bad yourself.”

She snorted and rested her head on his chest again. “Why is it so important to you?” she asked.

He didn’t have to ask what she meant. “Because they’re my family. I know they’ve done a lot of awful things, but they’re still my family.” When she didn’t respond, he pointed out, “I’ve met _all_ of your family. I’ve even met your Muggle grandparents.”

“My grandparents didn’t do _anything-”_

“I didn’t say that they did.” His tone was still calm. “My point is just that I’ve made the effort, and not everyone in your family has made me feel welcome.”

He didn’t mention Roxanne by name, but Rose knew that he was thinking of her in particular. Roxanne had many positive traits, and Rose loved her dearly, but it was true that she still treated Scorpius with a suspicion that wasn’t really warranted or fair. Rose suspected that it mostly had to do with the fact that Scorpius had been in Slytherin in school; Roxanne had always disliked all Slytherins on principle, and despite Scorpius’s longstanding friendship with Albus and his relationship with Rose, Roxanne couldn’t quite get over her suspicion.

Rose sighed. “I’ll think about it,” she said again. “I just... Scorpius, do you know what he _did?_ He went after people like my family - hell, he probably went after my family - and did...” She trailed off. “Maybe Roxanne’s been a bit of a jerk, but it doesn’t compare.”

“I know.” He sighed, too. “I _know._ You know I had my own little crisis when I found out about some of the terrible things he’s done. That’s why I haven’t pushed it. But they’re still... I just...”

“I’ll think about it,” she repeated. She considered pointing out that she was pretty sure he’d promised never to ask her to meet them, but decided against it; things had changed since then. “I promise.”

He exhaled heavily. “Thank you.”


	2. Scorpius. --- Plans for the Future.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius visits the Potters and discusses his future at St. Mungo's with his boss.

By the time Rose left his flat the next day, Scorpius Malfoy was in a fairly good mood.

His first Saturday with most of the Weasley clan had gone okay, for the most part, and if he’d stuck a little closer to the few Weasleys he felt comfortable with than maybe had been entirely necessary, he didn’t think anyone would fault him for it. And, at any rate, he was pretty sure he deserved some credit for extending that comfort zone to include James Potter - he’d never have believed it at the beginning of his O.W.L. year, but James really wasn’t half bad.

Even if he had developed an annoying habit in Scorpius’s fifth and sixth years of jinxing his hair to turn interesting colors about once a month. 

And, even better, when he’d broached the idea of meeting his father’s parents to Rose, she hadn’t refused out of hand - and Scorpius knew his girlfriend well enough to know that that meant she was genuinely considering it. Rose didn’t really have the self-control to dissemble in that way, which was one of the things that Scorpius really liked about her.

He wasn’t surprised that she was still drawing the line at so much as stepping foot inside his grandparents’ house or talking to his grandfather - he couldn’t blame her, really - but he felt optimistic about his grandmother. She’d been bothering him about meeting Rose for a long, long time, and while his grandfather hadn’t been able to keep himself from slipping a few times when Rose had come up in conversation, his grandmother never had.

He glanced at the old wooden clock on the wall of his bedroom; he’d unearthed it from one of the many rooms in his grandparents’ manor that wasn’t really used anymore. It was late enough that he was pretty sure the Potter boys would be awake, and he could use a word with Albus about how best to approach Rose about this whole Narcissa Malfoy thing.

The Potters were indeed awake when he got to the flat they shared, but they clearly hadn’t been up for long; the apartment still smelled vaguely of bacon and eggs, which Scorpius assumed James had made - Albus was a horrible cook - and it was clear that neither boy had touched his hair since going to bed the night before.

Still, they were more than happy to let him in.

“So, how do you feel like it went?” Albus asked when they’d settled onto the slightly threadbare couch. Scorpius was pretty sure that both Albus’s parents and Rose’s parents had more than enough money to help their children pay for their own flats and halfway decent furniture, but they seemed to feel that some adversity built character, and none of them could afford to live in a city as expensive as London on first and second year Ministry salaries.

Scorpius couldn’t afford his flat on a first year Healer’s salary, either, of course, but neither his nor his cousin Noah’s parents seemed to subscribe to quite the same opinions on adversity and monetary support that the Weasleys did. Scorpius could see some value in the way his friends’ parents did things, but all the same, he was quite happy that his parents took the perspective that it was vulgar for someone of his background to have to do something quite so crass as pay _rent,_ so they’d just bought him the flat. Some traditions died hard - his father had been perfectly capable of ridding himself of a lot of the blood purity prejudices that he’d championed in his youth, but apparently, pride in their social class was another matter.

“I dunno. Okay, I guess. What do you think?”

To his slight surprise, James threw himself into one of the chairs - which was in slightly better shape, though one of the arms had been singed since the last time Scorpius had been there. “It went fine,” he said. “You’re a natural. They’ll be asking you over for afternoon tea all on your own any day now.”

Over the years, Scorpius had become much better at interpreting James’s sarcasm, so it was nowhere near as off-putting and confusing as it had once been. “I’m sure,” he said, matching the older boy’s tone. “I bet next they’ll start telling me to bring my dad with me, because that’d go so well.”

The older boy grinned. “No, seriously, Scorpius, it was fine. They said you’d seemed very nice when you left. We didn’t correct them.”

Albus - who wasn’t even trying to hold back his smile at how well they were getting along - nudged Scorpius with his foot. “Scorpius, it really _was_ fine. They’re hoping you come back, so they can get to know you better.”

“Oh.” He considered this. “Good. I think.”

Albus rested his head on his hand. His dark red hair was still sticking out to the other side, but at least it looked slightly more intentional now. “So, did you ask Rose about your grandparents?”

“Yeah. She said she’d think about it.” James cleared his throat - he hadn’t been there during Scorpius’s previous conversations with Albus on the subject - and Scorpius said, “I asked Rose to meet my father’s parents.”

When he looked over at James, the dark-haired boy’s eyebrows had flown up. “Scorpius, no offense, but your grandfather was kind of a death eater. A real one, not a baby one like your dad.”

“My grandmother,” Scorpius said. “Just my grandmother.”

James considered that. “Okay, I guess that’s less fucked up. She wasn’t a death eater, right?”

“No!”

Albus was studying his best friend. “Good call,” he said after a long pause. “Your grandfather might just be a lost cause, and honestly, I think it’s probably better that way. The couple times I’ve met him, he definitely made me feel a little uncomfortable, and _I’m_ not any threat to your family’s blood purity. If you stay with Rose, it’s all over - any future Malfoys will not be purebloods.”

“He did? You think that’s why he wants to meet her - to, to sabotage us?”

Albus shrugged. “Yeah, a little - he made me feel uncomfortable, I mean. I don’t think it was intentional, he just got this weird look on his face every time he looked at me. I doubt that’s why he _wants_ to meet Rose, but I don’t think he’ll necessarily be able to keep his feelings to himself. Your grandmother has fewer feelings, I think, and I bet she _can_ keep them to herself.”

Scorpius shifted uncomfortably. “You really think they don’t like Rose? On principle?”

“I… honestly?” Scorpius nodded. “I’m not sure I’d go quite that far, but I think they’d both have been a lot happier if you’d found some nice pureblooded girl to go out with. Not everyone is like your dad, Scorpius - most people don’t change, not deep down, no matter how much you want them to.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that before I asked her?” Scorpius snapped. He was starting to feel as though he’d gotten himself in way over his head, and his good mood had all but dissipated.

“Because I think you were right to ask her.” Albus wasn’t rising to the bait. “This matters to you, and I think your grandmother probably _will_ behave herself.”

This was not quite the ringing vote of confidence Scorpius had been hoping for, but he supposed it was probably better than nothing.

That bit of unpleasantness aside, Scorpius did enjoy the rest of his visit with Albus - and James, who ended up sticking around for most of it. He left their flat as the sun was setting, however, despite an invitation to stay for dinner - he had to be at work early the next day, and he’d learned very quickly that a tired Healer was a careless Healer, and a careless Healer could cost lives.

He’d only had to be told that once, since the lesson had happened to come on a day when two Aurors who’d been on the wrong end of several very nasty curses had been rushed to the fourth floor in very serious condition. He hadn’t known either of them, but the idea that one day the Aurors in critical condition could be - or, rather, almost certainly _would_ be - his best friend or his cousin had been very effective in making the lesson stick.

He woke up the next morning well before sunrise, and he was at work by quarter after six.

It had been eight months since he’d first stepped foot inside the hospital as an official Resident Healer, and in that time, he’d been pleased to find that his instincts when he’d been in school were good ones: he liked Healing every bit as much as his friends and cousins liked danger - and, more importantly, he was very good at it. Today, however, he was facing a conversation with his boss that made him more than a little uncomfortable; he knew it was going to be one of the more difficult conversations he’d had with her thus far.

He strode by the front desk with a quick nod to the welcome wizard sitting behind it; at this point, he knew all of the front-facing witches and wizards on a first name basis, but while he often stopped to chat for a couple minutes if it was quiet, he didn’t have the energy to put a good face on today. His stomach was a bundle of nerves.

Scorpius made his way straight to Healer Deverill’s office and rapped twice on the door, which was slightly ajar. After a moment, the plump, dark-haired witch who’d taken him under her wing opened it. “Oh, Scorpius - you’re a little early, aren’t you?”

He glanced past her to the unadorned wooden clock on the wall. “Er - maybe a little. I thought you told me to get here by 6:30.”

She followed his gaze. The clock’s minute hand had just edged past the five. “Oh, is it that time already?” She made a face and stepped back to usher him inside. “Sorry - I’ve been here since 4 filling out paperwork. I must have lost track of time.”

“It’s fine.” He sat down in one of the mahogany chairs on the side of the desk nearer the door while she bustled around to sit in the significantly more comfortable chair behind her desk.

He must have looked as stiff and tense as he felt, because her face softened a little when she looked at him. “Oh, calm down. This isn’t meant to be unpleasant - I just want to touch base and figure out where you are with deciding on a focus.” She jerked her head at the armchair in the corner, where both she and Scorpius himself had spent many long hours pouring over charts, filling out paperwork, and keeping up to date on the most recent research in the field. “Come on. There’s no reason for you to sit there - you’re not in school anymore, and I haven’t suddenly turned back into your professor.”

Scorpius felt his face get a little hot. “Sorry,” he said, circling around the desk to settle into the chair.

Rather than hire a designated, full-time professor for the sixth and seventh year Medical Magic classes, Hogwarts had arranged for experienced St. Mungo’s Healers to come in on Mondays and Fridays to teach the N.E.W.T. classes. He’d been lucky enough to have Lisbeth Deverill, a high-ranking Healer in St. Mungo’s administration who’d taught the class in his seventh year, take an interest in him and pull some strings when he’d started the previous summer to get him under her supervision.

He suspected that his father’s generous donations to the hospital after Scorpius’s fifth, sixth, and seventh years hadn’t hurt either. Officially, no one was supposed to take things like that into account, but 500 galleons for an O and 250 galleons for an E really did add up to quite a lot of money.

Healer Deverill studied him. Her brown eyes, slightly obscured behind the smudged glass of thin spectacles, were critical but not unkind. “You’re not usually this tense. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m sorry. I’m just…” He considered mentioning the conversation with Rose about his grandmother, but decided against it. He had opened up to his mentor a little in the past, but this didn’t feel like the time to do so - and, even if it had, Scorpius was fairly certain that his discomfort had a lot more to do with the conversation they were about to have than anything else. He was usually pretty good at blocking out his personal life when he got to work. “I’m just a little stressed about this.”

She sighed. “You shouldn’t be, you know, but since you are, let’s get it over with.” She shuffled through the papers on her desk and extracted a roll of parchment. “You came to us with impressive N.E.W.T. marks,” she said without glancing down at what she’d written, “and since you started here last July, you’ve shown an impressive capacity to think on your feet. I think you’ve got the capacity to excel in most of our departments - though please don’t ask me to sign onto a focus in plants injuries and poisonings.”

Scorpius let out a snort. He’d just barely scraped an E on his Herbology N.E.W.T., and that had been with copious amounts of help and bribery from Rose. His girlfriend knew him very, very well, and she’d known exactly what incentives would make the things she was drilling him on stick.

“Don’t worry. I wasn’t planning on it.” He hesitated for a moment, and then said, “I’m kind of torn. I don’t know whether I’d rather focus on spell damage or creature-induced injuries.”

Her eyebrows rose a little. “You do realize that it would take an extraordinary situation for you to be assigned to friends or family members, right?”

He’d known she would recognize the personal motivation behind his words - he’d talked to her about it a little, but even if he hadn’t, everyone knew about the Greengrasses - his cousin Johanna in particular had landed herself in St. Mungo’s at least twice a year since she’d finished her Auror training seven years earlier - and since he’d convinced Rose and Albus to take the Medical Magic N.E.W.T. with him, Healer Deverill had gotten to know them both well enough to know where they were heading after Hogwarts.

And, as his cousin Noah had pointed out on more than one occasion, you’d have to be blind to see Scorpius in the same room as Rose and not realize that he was in love with her. His mentor had seen them in class together twice a week for almost a year - even if he hadn’t explicitly said it, she’d have figured it out.

“I know. I just… if I’m helping the people they work with, I’m helping them, too.”

Scorpius didn’t add that he’d lapsed into more fantasies than it was prudent to admit to about getting so good at treating those particular injuries that he’d be assigned to them when they were brought in anyway. If he was that good at what he did, then he’d have a lot less to worry about.

He had a feeling that Healer Deverill could tell what direction his thoughts had headed in, but for the moment, she let it go. “And you’re not sure which?”

Scorpius shook his head. “I know I didn’t take Magizoology - I couldn’t really get it into my schedule, with everything else I was taking - but -”

She cut him off. “Oh, Scorpius, _nobody_ here took Magizoology. We already require at least five N.E.W.T.s to so much as _start_ training here, and if you don’t want to come in restricted to specific departments, you need to take six - which you did. If we only accepted people who took seven N.E.W.T.s and got an E or an O on all of them, we’d never get trainees.”

“Oh. Right. And obviously I know about curses and dark magic.”

She considered him. “Well, you’ve got another four months of residency before we assign you to a floor as a junior healer. We’ll talk about it again in a couple months - I don’t believe you’ve even done your rotation in creature injuries yet, have you?” He shook his head. “If you’re still undecided after that, you _do_ have the option to complete a year or two as a junior Healer on each floor, which will allow you to practice as a senior Healer on either.”

He nodded. Scorpius wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to double the amount of time it would take him to become a senior Healer, but it was good to know it was an option.


	3. Rose. --- Out On a Limb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose deliberates about whether she's ready to meet Narcissa Malfoy.

  
_CI by abhorsen. @ TDA (me)_

  


By the time Rose got to work on Monday, she’d spent so much time thinking about whether she was ready to meet Narcissa Malfoy and avoiding thinking about whether she was ready to meet Narcissa Malfoy that her head was spinning.

She considered talking to James about it; they’d always been close, and he’d given her a lot of good advice when she and Scorpius had started going out in their fifth year. However, while James and Scorpius were getting along much better as of late than they ever had before, she wasn’t entirely sure that James would really understand where Scorpius was coming from, so she didn’t quite feel right about talking to him about it. She didn’t need someone to convince her that Scorpius was being unreasonable, especially since there was a sizeable part of her that would have loved to take that as an out.

It ended up not being relevant: at around 10, James stuck his head inside the trainee cubicle she shared with Alex Finnigan and said, “Hey, Rosie, you have plans tonight?” She shook her head. “Al said to tell you to come by our place for dinner tonight.”

“Who’s cooking?” she asked suspiciously. James was a good cook when he put his mind to it, but Albus - for all his virtues - was absolutely hopeless in the kitchen. He claimed that he was getting better all the time, but that depended entirely on whether you liked cardboard more than the smell of burning rubber. Rose supposed that she did, but neither was something she wanted in a meal.

James grinned. “Me.”

“So Al volunteered you to do the cooking and invited a guest?” she asked. “How’s that work?”

“Ask him,” James said. “I take it that’s a yes?” She nodded. He disappeared from the doorway, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She could definitely talk to Albus. Sometimes, his having divided loyalties was actually a very good thing.

“Is Albus a bad cook?” Alex asked curiously. He had his feet propped up on the desk and was studying one of the books from the shelf propped up against the far wall; as the day when they would be sent into the field to face real monsters approached, Alex seemed to be getting more and more paranoid that his father - who headed the D.C.B. - would end up deciding that he wasn’t quite ready after all.

Seamus Finnigan didn’t seem like that kind of person to Rose, but Alex knew his father better than she did, and at any rate, parents could be rather stupid about their children sometimes. Her parents certainly were, and her uncle seemed to be so intent on proving that he wasn’t playing favourites with Albus that training was even harder for her cousin than it was supposed to be.

“He’s terrible,” she said, turning back to the map that tracked acromantula movement across the British Isles. According to the map, there was an enormous nest in the Forbidden Forest; she wondered why the D.C.B. hadn’t bothered to go in and stomp it out. “His cooking tastes like cardboard.”

Alex snorted as he tossed his book onto the desk. “So the ‘homemade’ biscuits he brought back for our dormitory after the Christmas holiday last year were really from Honeydukes or something?”

“Well, if they were edible, he certainly didn’t make them. Maybe his mum did.”

“Figures.” Alex jerked his head toward the map. “Which one is that?”

“The acromantulas,” she said. “Hey, Alex, do you know if there’s still a nest in the Forbidden Forest?”

“I do, actually,” he said. “I asked Dad about it a few weeks ago. There is. Apparently, it’s too big to get rid of easily, and since nobody’s ever died and they’re really deep in...” He shrugged. “I guess the Ministry decided it wasn’t an appropriate use of resources.”

“Oh.” She glanced back at the map. The glowing red spiders seemed to be spread across an alarming amount of the Forbidden Forest, and there were too many of them for comfort; it was one of the biggest nests in Britain. “Seems - er - dangerous.”

“Yeah.” Alex sighed. “I thought so, too. But I guess that’s why we’re the trainees, huh?”

“Guess so.” She glanced at the Forbidden Forest again, and then tapped the map with her wand. It went dark. “Think we’ll be getting squad assignments today?”

Alex slumped down in his chair. “I dunno,” he said morosely. “But I bet you get a great assignment and I have to follow Dad around for a year.”

They did not end up getting their squad assignments that day, though when they were eating lunch Rose’s cousin Victoire hinted that it would be happening before the week was out. She looked strangely pleased with herself, though Rose wasn’t sure if it was just because she knew when it was happening or if she’d succeeded in convincing their boss to put Rose with her. The timing hadn’t been right with James, but maybe things were different now.

When Rose tried to press her, however, Victoire had just laughed and changed the subject. She was just going to have to try to be patient.

She already knew from experience that she wasn’t very good at it, though.

At the end of the day, James poked his head in, and she followed him out to the floo network. It landed them in the lobby of the witches-and-wizards-only building he and Albus lived in, and they climbed the flight of stairs that led to the flat.

Once they got inside, James wandered off to the kitchen, and Rose tossed her coat and gloves onto their couch on her way to Albus’s bedroom. The door was closed, but the light streaming out from the crack where it met the floor indicated that he was already home.

She knocked loudly, and after a moment, he called, “Come in!”

Rose pushed the door open. When he saw that it was her, he tossed the book he’d been reading aside. “You came.”

“I heard you weren’t cooking,” she responded, flopping onto the foot of his bed.

He made a face. “I’m not that bad,” he said. “Bridget said I’m getting pretty good. I made her breakfast last week.”

“It’s a good thing that she’s the one learning Legilimency, not you.” He looked a little stung, and she hastened to add, “I dunno, Al, maybe you are. I haven’t wanted to risk it in so long that for all I know, you’re a great cook now.”

He rolled his eyes but looked appeased. “Yeah, that’s me. Albus Potter, Auror trainee and master chef. I’m multi-talented.”

Rose privately thought that her cousin had quite a lot of talents, but she wasn’t about to tell him that, especially since she still very much doubted that cooking had become one of them.

He cocked his head to one side. “You look distracted. What’s wrong?”

She glanced toward the door, which was still hanging open. She could hear James turn on the radio in the kitchen, which meant that they were about as alone as they were going to get that night.

Rose didn’t always like to drag Albus into issues that she and Scorpius were having, but while she still wanted Lucy’s take on the situation, Lucy still didn’t know Scorpius all that well, and she didn’t know Rose as well as Albus did, either. Maybe he’d have some special insight that would solve all of her problems.

Probably not, though. But it was still worth talking to him about it.

“Scorpius wants me to meet his grandparents,” she said. Her cousin immediately looked away from her, and her temper rose. “You _knew?”_

Albus sighed. “Yes, Rose, I knew that he wanted you to meet his grandparents. He talked to me about it. Are you really that surprised?”

“I guess not. What did he say?” she demanded, leaning forward.

She didn’t really expect him to respond, so she was surprised when he sighed again, ran his fingers through his dark red hair, and answered her. “Just that he’d asked you and that you were considering it.” She continued to stare at him, and he made a face. “Rose, I don’t know. I think I said that I was pretty sure his grandmother would be fine, but I thought he should probably drop his grandfather entirely.”

“You get it, then?” she asked hopefully. She’d spent the day before second-guessing herself about whether what he was asking was really so difficult after all.

“Of course I do,” her cousin said. “They supported a regime that tortured and killed people like you - I wouldn’t feel too comfortable with them, either. Hell, I _don’t_ feel too comfortable with them - they’ve got no reason to like me.” He glanced toward the door; the strong smell of garlic and olive oil was beginning to permeate the flat, and right on cue, they heard a faint sound of chopping from the kitchen. “But I also understand why it’s important to him.” Albus shrugged. “It’s a hard situation, Rose.”

She slumped back against the wall. So much for Albus’s advice. “What should I do?”

Albus considered her for a minute. “Whatever you think is right.” She wrinkled her nose, but she was completely distracted by his next word. “But...”

“But what?” she asked quickly, leaning forward. Her heart was starting to beat harder.

Her cousin shook his head. “Look, I’m not trying to guilt you into it or anything. I know you, and I know that if you feel guilted, you won’t do it just to be contrary.” Rose smiled despite herself. “But... Rosie, I _do_ think that things go your way a lot more than they go his, because he’s just a lot more easygoing than you. And that’s fine, that’s how he is, but I feel like that means that when something matters this much to him… you should really think about doing it.”

“So you think I should meet his grandmother?”

Albus shrugged. “I don’t know. As far as requests go, that’s a pretty big one. I don’t think he’d blame you for saying no.”

“But it would mean a lot to him if I said yes,” she prompted.

“Oh, yeah. It’d mean the world to him.”

If she seemed a little preoccupied throughout dinner, James didn’t seem to notice, and Albus clearly understood what she was struggling with. He hadn’t given her a magical answer to solve everything perfectly - in some ways, he’d even made it all more complicated - but he had helped to clarify this for her. He wasn’t shocked when she said she had to leave shortly after they’d finished eating what had turned out to be a delicious pasta dish, and James had waved her off after extracting a promise that they’d do it again soon.

Her stomach full, she headed home: there was still one person she really wanted to talk to.

To Rose’s relief, Lucy was just sitting down to dinner when she walked into their flat. She hadn’t seen her cousin the day before at all; Lucy had been gone when she’d gotten home, and she hadn’t gotten home by the time Rose called it a night around midnight.

Rose slid into the chair across from her and poured herself a cup of tea from the steaming teapot Lucy had left sitting on the table. She was more than a little curious about what had kept her cousin out so late, but she’d learned months ago that asking would do no good.

“So how’d Scorpius like his first Saturday with the Weasley clan?” Lucy asked as Rose took a sip of her tea. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there - you know how work is.”

Rose didn’t really know how work was, not in the sense Lucy was talking about; for one thing, Lucy worked in the Department of Mysteries, and for another, she’d already been there for a few years, having been two years above Rose in school. She nodded anyway; there wasn’t really any other appropriate response.

“It was all right,” she said, frowning into her tea. “He felt a little awkward, and he kind of stuck by me, Albus, and James most of the time, but I guess that’s to be expected, right?”

Lucy snorted. “James, huh?” Rose grinned despite the memory of his request the previous night, and Lucy pushed her bowl away from her. “But yes, I’d be surprised if he’d felt comfortable the first time out. Our family can be… overwhelming.”

“He wants me to meet his grandparents,” she burst out, and Lucy’s eyebrows rose a centimetre.

“Haven’t you already?”

“His other grandparents.”

Now Lucy’s eyebrows shot up. “What, the Malfoys?” Rose nodded. “What did you say?”

It took about ten minutes, but Lucy eventually managed to wring the entire exchange out of Rose, who still had no idea how to feel about the whole thing.

Scorpius really was a good boyfriend. It wasn’t just that his personality fit with hers, or that she enjoyed spending time with him. Those things were true, of course, but it was more than that. He was attentive, he was patient, and his sarcasm and dry humor lightened her spirit even at her most morose.

And he loved her. She could feel how much he loved her every time he looked at her or ran his fingers through her hair or kissed her. He made her feel safe, and her best nights were always the nights she spent with him.

It said something that where most of her cousins who had gone into similar fields had had difficulty with relationships - James and his girlfriend had gone through a thoroughly unpleasant and painful breakup at the end of their seventh year, and the only girlfriends Dominique had managed to hang onto for any length of time either worked in Dragon Research with her or in a similar division like the D.C.B. As far as Rose knew, Louis didn’t even really bother, though she supposed that you never did know with Louis. He tended to keep his own council.

Even Albus, who was involved with a fellow Auror trainee, had more than his share of relationship issues, though Rose privately thought that Albus’s issues probably had much less to do with his being an Auror and more to do with his being Albus.

The only Weasley cousin who’d gone into a dangerous profession who really had a healthy, functional relationship was Victoire... but even there, Teddy was a Cursebreaker, which really was quite different from a Healer.

But Scorpius hung in there, even though she knew it wasn’t easy.

“What are you going to do?” Lucy asked, and Rose blinked, refocusing on her cousin. Lucy’s attention was on her, and her eyes were wide with curiosity.

Rose sighed. “I don’t know,” she said. “I feel like I owe it to him to at least give it a chance.” She was fairly certain that Albus was right, and it _would_ mean quite a lot to Scorpius.

Her cousin frowned. “That’s really not the way you should be looking at it,” she told Rose. Her voice was still mild, but something in her deep brown eyes had shifted, and Rose got the distinct impression that Lucy had a strong opinion about this.

“Why not?”

Lucy let out a sigh and shook her head. “Because... Rose, if you do it just because you think you owe him, you’re just going to end up resenting him for it, even though he didn’t actually make you do anything.”

Shortly after that, Lucy excused herself to go take a bath, leaving Rose to puzzle that out. By the time Lucy retreated into her room and Rose’s tea had gotten ice-cold, she’d come to a decision. She just hoped she wouldn’t regret it.


	4. Scorpius. --- Colliding Callings.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius asks his father for advice.

It was well after 9 when Scorpius heard a knock on his door. When he answered it, he was surprised to find Rose on the other side.

“Hey,” he said, stepping back to let her in. “I - er, did I forget that you were coming by?”

The locks reengaged behind them as she followed him into the living room. “No,” she said, perching on the arm of one of the chairs. “I wasn’t planning to.”

Scorpius flopped onto the couch and frowned at her. “Well, not that I don’t love your company, but I’ve been up since 5, so I’m a little wiped. Is something wrong?” She took a deep breath, but rather than say something, she began to toy with her bright red curls as she studied the floor. Very few things that didn’t take place in the bedroom could shut his girlfriend up, and he began to feel alarmed. “Oh, Merlin. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” she said quickly, looking up. “I - I just -” She took another deep breath and let it out. “I’ll have lunch with your grandmother,” she managed to get out. _“Not_ with your grandfather. But I will with just her.”

His concern vanished. “Really?” She nodded, and he straightened up. “Come here.” As soon as she’d seated herself next to him, he sank his fingers into her hair and kissed her. She inched closer to him as she reciprocated, and when he pulled back, her eyes were dazed and unfocused. “Thank you,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers. “You’re sure? I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

“Yes.” To his surprise, her voice was steady.

He smiled at her. “Thank you,” he repeated softly.

She glanced over his shoulder. “So, when do you need to be up tomorrow?”

“Less early - why?” He followed her gaze to his open bedroom door and grinned. “Don’t you have work tomorrow, too?”

“Yeah, but I’ve got clothes here.” He was suddenly very aware of the way her skirt was riding up the leg she’d folded under herself when she’d joined him on the couch, and when she began to run a finger lightly along his jaw line, his heart began to hammer. “Unless you’re too tired…” She leaned in to kiss his neck and began to trail her hand down his chest. By the time she got to his inner thigh, the exhaustion that had been starting to overwhelm him was all but gone.

“Come on,” he said roughly, grabbing her hand and making a beeline for the bedroom. “Suddenly, I’m not tired at all.”

* * *

“So why did you have to get there so early today, anyway?” Rose asked later, propping herself up on her elbows.

Scorpius glanced over at her. Her blue eyes were still sparkling, and she had her head cocked slightly to one side as she watched him.

He made a face. “I had to meet with Deverill,” he told her, reaching out to stroke her arm before returning his gaze to the ceiling. “She wanted to touch base and discuss my future with the hospital.”

The sleepy laziness vanished from Rose’s voice. “What do you mean? I thought they were happy with your work!”

“Oh, they are. No, not in a ‘we want to get rid of you’ way - she wanted to know what floor I wanted to be put on after I finish my residency this summer.”

“But you haven’t even been on the first floor at all yet. Shouldn’t you be having that conversation in a few months?”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, too, so I was actually pretty tense going into it - which she noticed, of course. But it was a lot more informal than I thought it would be - she just wanted to know where my head was at, I think.”

“Oh.” Rose let herself flop back down onto the bed. “That’s all right, then. Scorpius, I _love_ your bed.” He let out a snort of laughter, and she edged over to snuggle up to him. “And you, of course. So what did you tell her?”

Scorpius put his arm around her and pulled her closer. “I was pretty honest - I said I wanted to do either creature injuries or curses, but I wasn’t sure which.” He felt Rose tense up a little - they’d had arguments about whether he should be specializing in creatures before, and he knew she was hoping he’d change his mind after his upcoming rotation on the floor.

He was hoping that she’d decide to let it go, just this once, but his hopes were in vain. He should have known better, honestly - Rose had never been good at picking her battles. “Did she tell you to do something different? Because you should, you know.”

“Why?” he asked, keeping his voice level.

She sighed. “Because you’ve fixated on it before you’ve even started that rotation. You can’t know you’ll like it, and that worries me.”

Her voice was getting a little higher each time she spoke, which was the very opposite of what he wanted. “Rose, it’s late, and this isn’t the time. I’m not making any decisions yet, and I won’t be for another couple months. Will you calm the hell down? You asked me about my day. I answered the question. If you don’t want to know, _don’t ask.”_

To his surprise, she didn’t respond. When he looked down at her, she made a face. “Fine, I’ll leave it alone,” she said. “For now. But now I’m pissed off and not very tired, and since it’s you being stupid that got me like this, I think you should help tire me out again.”

He was about to argue with her when she licked her lips, and he caught on. “Yeah, sure,” he said, shifting to lean on his elbow. _“I’m_ the one being stupid.”

“You are,” she insisted, reaching up to pull him down for a kiss. “I’m completely sensible.”

He let her have the last word. He’d already shifted his attention to something much more enjoyable.

For now.

It was harder than usual to force himself to get out of bed the following morning. The sight of Rose lying there peacefully while he got dressed after a quick shower beckoned him back to bed, and it was with a little resentment toward the hours he was keeping right now that he trudged off to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast. He ducked back into his bedroom to kiss a very sleepy Rose goodbye before heading out the door for what he knew was going to be a very long day.

* * *

“You always finish prepping the ingredients before I do,” Sawyer complained that afternoon. He was still separating the white flowers from the deep green of the rest of the meadow-wort - since they were both used in potion-making, anyone preparing it had to be careful, which made the work particularly tedious. “How are you so much better at making potions than you were at herbology? It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Scorpius shrugged as he ground the pomegranate seeds into a fine powder. “Good cooks aren’t always good gardeners, either,” he pointed out. “Plants are a lot easier to work with once they’re dead.”

The other man laughed. He opened his mouth to say something else, but closed it without speaking when the door swung open and Rebecca Sherrer, another resident, stepped inside. “Oh, you’re both here already,” she said breathlessly. Despite her dark skin, her cheeks were noticeably flushed under the oppressively bright lights of the room. “Am I late? I was sitting in on a meeting between Bell and Hunt in spell damage, and it ran longer than we expected. I thought I had enough time to run upstairs to the cafeteria to grab a quick bite.”

Scorpius glanced up at the clock. He and Sawyer only gotten back from lunch about fifteen minutes earlier, though from the way Sawyer complained, they’d been locked in the room for hours. “Not really,” he said. “We’ve got a long afternoon in front of us, anyway.”

She made a face and shrugged out of her jacket. “I know. Potions-prep days can drag so much. I’m glad we don’t have them _too_ often.”

Scorpius had never really understood why his friends disliked prepping for potions quite so much - he generally found spending a few hours in the potions rooms and away from the immediacy of the rest of the hospital to be refreshing. Still, he knew better than to say so. Instead, he gave a noncommital shrug and went back to his pomegranate seeds.

By the time he finished work, the sun was starting to set. After spending the last six hours bending over various tables preparing potions ingredients, he was more than a little sore, but rather than head home, he decided to stop by his parents’ house. He’d been able to put lunch with his grandmother out of his mind while he was at work, but now the confusion he’d been grappling with had come rushing back, and he really wanted his father’s take on the whole thing.

Scorpius ducked into one of the Healer apparition rooms on the ground floor of the hospital. He turned, and when he opened his eyes, he was standing in front of the gate to his parents’ house several hundred miles away.

It wasn’t his grandparents’ manor, of course, but his father had clearly been looking for something relatively similar that didn’t carry the same bad memories when he’d bought it before Scorpius was born. The wrought iron gate stretched far above his head, and a polished silver plaque mounted on the brick wall next to it read “Astoria and Draco Malfoy” in elegant script.

His name was still chiseled into the metal, too, under those of his parents’; he suspected that when they finally got around to changing it, he’d have a little bit of an identity crisis. His flat in London was perfectly nice, especially compared to Rose’s flat that she shared with her cousin Lucy or the flat the Potter boys shared, but it wasn’t home the way his parents’ house way.

He tapped his wand on the bolted gate and thought rather than said the spell that would open it; that had been the first nonverbal spell he’d ever learned, because his father still harbored some paranoia that someone spying on them might overhear it if anyone said it out loud, no matter how quietly they muttered it. When Scorpius had asked why it mattered and what anyone was likely to do with the information, his father had just made a vague comment about dark wizards and how you never did know about these things.

The gate creaked open, and as soon as he’d stepped inside, the metal clanged loudly as it closed behind him. He passed by the topiary lining the walk to the medieval stone of his childhood home and under the archway shielding the steps to the front door.

He let himself in. He was about to call out to his parents when his father stuck his head out of his study. “Astoria? Did you forget something?”

“It’s me, Dad,” Scorpius said, slipping off his shoes and making his way down the hallway. His father met him halfway and greeted him with a warm hug. “Where’s Mum?”

“Out with her brother. We haven’t seen you in almost a month!” He ushered Scorpius into the study. “How are you?”

Scorpius settled onto one of the leather chairs and immediately felt some of the achiness from the day leave his body. “Tired,” he said. “It’s not all glory and pretty girls, you know, being a Healer.”

His father grinned and crossed the room to the solid wooden cabinet which had maintained its deep, rich brown despite its age. Draco Malfoy opened the glass door and pulled out a large glass bottle of firewhiskey. “Do you want some?” he asked, taking out a glass for himself and filling it up about halfway.

“Sure. Not as much, though.” His father handed the emptier of the two glasses to Scorpius before he settled into the other armchair. “Thanks,” Scorpius said, taking a sip. It burned a little going down, but it was also very, very good - a lot better than he’d in awhile.

“I thought you had about as much ‘pretty girls’ as you could handle.” His father’s eyes were sparkling with amusement. “Or has Rose turned into a different person since we saw her over Christmas?”

“No, she’s still the same Rose she’s always been.” Scorpius had intended that to come out light-hearted, but the delivery fell a little short.

His father, who had always been an observant man, noticed and put his glass down on the table. “Is everything with Rose all right?”

“I think so. I’m not sure.” Scorpius considered the question and just how much he wanted to tell his father, who was studying him closely with slightly narrowed eyes. He decided to opt for just about everything. “Well, I asked her if she’d have lunch with - well, your parents.”

His father’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh?”

“Yeah. She said she’d meet Gran, but not Grandad.”

“Good,” his father said shortly. Scorpius’s surprise must have shown on his face, because his father sighed. “Scorpius, I understand why it’s important to you, and I think my mother will be so happy you’re finally letting her meet Rose that she’ll behave herself. I wouldn’t trust my father to have the same restraint… or, for that matter, to even recognize when he was crossing a line.”

“But you think Gran will be okay?”

His father shrugged. “Probably. Have you told her yet?” Scorpius shook his head. “Well, tell me when you do - if you’re really that worried I’ll talk to her about it.”

“Thanks. That would be great.” Scorpius hesitated, but something - either the firewhiskey or just plain stress - reinforced his resolve and loosened his tongue. “Rose and I have been fighting, some, recently.”

His father took another sip of the whiskey. “About?”

“Work. She’s about to start going into the field, which makes _me_ worried - I know how often people in her department get carted in with serious wounds. And I’ve been talking to Deverill a little about where I might want to work after I finish residency, and Rose is pissed off because I’m thinking about creature injuries.”

“She doesn’t like that?”

“No. She says she’s worried that I’m ‘fixated’ on it before even doing my rotation there and despite not particularly liking Care of Magical Creatures in school, and that she thinks I’d do much better with poisons or spell damage.”

His father sighed and took another gulp of his whiskey. Scorpius followed suit. “Well, that’s a mess,” Draco Malfoy said bluntly.

“I know. What do you think?”

Now his father crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “Why _are_ you thinking about going into creature injuries when you haven’t worked with any yet?”

Scorpius was suddenly feeling a little warm. “I guess Rose,” he mumbled. “At least a little. It’d just make me feel better, to feel like I’m helping keep her safe somehow. And I know I didn’t like Care of Magical Creatures, but I wouldn’t be working on crup bites or anything like that - I’d be working on the other stuff, stuff that I _do_ find interesting. But she seems to think it’s not my ‘calling’ or something.”

_That_ made his father chuckle. “Well, that sounds about right. Those damn Weasleys,” he said. “They’re all so damned _earnest_ and driven and idealistic. Potter and Granger fit right in there, though at least they’ve got a little more sense once in awhile.” He held up a hand to forestall anything Scorpius might have said. “I’m not saying it to be mean - Albus is always welcome here, and we’ve grown to like Rose a lot. But Scorpius, even those two - by the time you hit your O.W.L. year, they had their eyes on the prize.”

“So did I,” Scorpius pointed out.

His father shrugged. “You’re still more flexible than they are. Albus _needed_ to be an Auror - there was nothing else he’d even think about doing. Rose _needed_ to join the D.C.B. - I still remember the panic attack she had here while you were waiting for your N.E.W.T.s after your seventh year because she was terrified she’d have to go into _Dragon Research_ instead, God forbid. They’re typical, inflexible Gryffindors. They see their path, think any deviation from it would doom them to a lifetime of unhappiness and unfulfillment, and assume that everyone else feels the same way. They got it from their parents, I think.”

“Yeah,” Scorpius said slowly. “I guess you’re right. But I don’t feel that way at all. I mean… I want to be a Healer, but I don’t think there’s one _kind_ of Healing that… er… speaks to me, or whatever.”

“That’s because you’re a Slytherin with some sense. There’s not one right job for most people - there are just jobs people do for a lot of different reasons that hopefully don’t make them miserable. What I do isn’t all that different from what Rose’s mother does, really, but we’re not doing it for the same reasons or with the same… intensity.” He pronounced the word with a little distaste. “You want to be a Healer. You’re becoming a Healer. Don’t specialize in something that makes you miserable, but if you specialize in something for more personal reasons… I don’t see a problem with that.”

Scorpius thought about that for a minute. “That makes sense. Thanks, Dad.”

His father smiled. “You should stop by more often. I’m full of wisdom. Come on, let’s see about some dinner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter makes me so nervous. _I usually don't write major canon characters for extended scenes like this, and Draco Malfoy is so divisive and difficult to get right, even so many years in the future. I'd love to hear how you thought it came off, if you don't mind taking a moment to comment - was he plausible?_
> 
> _Regardless, though, thanks so much for reading. <3_


	5. Rose. --- Squad Assignments.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose gets assigned to a squad and later receives a note from Scorpius.

When Rose and Alex got their squad assignments later that week, Rose could not have been happier. She didn’t know what her cousin had on Finnigan for him to have made this concession, but he’d given her over to Victoire and Van Dedworth for field training. Dedworth was in charge - he’d joined the D.C.B. about twenty years ago, back when it was first starting up, and he knew spells and tricks about monsters that Rose was sure she couldn’t even imagine - but the main attraction of the assignment was her cousin. Getting to work with Victoire - who was exceedingly good at both dueling and finding trouble - was an exciting prospect.

Alex, to his considerable relief, did not have to follow his father around for a year. Rose couldn’t quite understand his relief when she saw his assignment - he would be following Lavender Brown and a light-haired man named Camden Crockford around for the following year. Crockford seemed to be all right, but Rose found Lavender Brown to be extremely intimidating. The fact that she was second-in-command of their department only added to the aura the heavy scarring across her face created. She didn’t seem mean, but still, Rose tried to avoid her as often as possible.

“Well, she _is_ his godmother,” Van said when she mentioned it to Victoire shortly after she’d arrived at their small cubicle and taken her seat at a deserted desk in the corner. He had his feet up on his desk, and he was tossing a stuffed manticore up into the air and catching it. “Of course he’s glad he’s been put with her.”

“She is? How do you know?”

Victoire snorted. Unlike Dedworth, she actually appeared to be working; her long red hair was tied back from her face, and she was scrutinising a small stack of reports. “Rosie, never ask Van how he knows something about Lavender - or the Finnigans, for that matter. You’ll just end up confused.”

There was something about the way she said it that made Rose wonder what exactly the subtext was, and if it had just been her and her cousin, she probably would have pressed Victoire for an explanation. However, it wasn’t just them, and it didn’t seem like a good idea to pursue a line of questioning that could annoy or offend her direct supervisor on her very first day.

“So when do we do something interesting?” she asked instead.

This time, it was Dedworth who gave the snort of laughter. “As soon as we find something worth checking out. Don’t worry. Something will come up soon.” He tossed the stuffed manticore onto his desk, swiveled around so his feet were back on the floor, and grabbed a few reports off it that from a distance looked quite similar to the ones Victoire was pouring over. “Something always does.”

Rose felt her heartbeat quicken. This was exactly why she’d been so intent on joining the D.C.B. that she’d signed up two days after she’d taken the Hogwarts Express home for the last time.

In years past, dark wizards had been the major threat facing the wizarding world. There were certainly plenty of magical creatures you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley, but attacks on humans were isolated events. They weren’t especially uncommon - everyone had a story about how their cousin’s best mate or their sister’s boyfriend’s aunt had been attacked by a vicious kelpie or a group of grindylows when they were fishing - but they were isolated. They were just part of living in the wizarding world.

But things had changed. Those incidents were more common, and more importantly, attacks by really dangerous creatures - acromantulas, manticores, trolls, and other XXXX or XXXXX creatures - were becoming increasingly common. There had even been rumours that the quintapeds were crossing over to the mainland, though those reports had yet to be substantiated. Nobody seemed to know what was causing the spike, but after about twenty years of ignoring the signs, it was undeniable that something was very, very wrong.

The wizarding world had focused too much of their energy on dark wizards following the Second Wizarding War, and they’d forgotten there were other dark things out there. Now they were paying the price.

“What can I do?” Rose asked.

Victoire and Dedworth both looked over at her, and then at each other. After a moment, Dedworth held up his sheaf of parchments and grinned. “Pull up a seat,” he said. “Vic’s looking into the quintapeds again. It’s not really beginner work. I’ve got some reports claiming that there have been some kelpie sightings in Portsmouth, though.”

“Are there really quintapeds?” Rose asked as she dragged her chair over to his desk.

Victoire glanced up. “Maybe. It’s difficult to tell. The Prophet has been reporting all the rumours to death lately, which means every Bones, Scamander, and Zeller in the country is claiming they’ve seen one. Usually, they’re just seeing shadows, but sometimes it’s acromantulas, and there’ve been a few tips that felt suspicious, but when we swept the area...” She shrugged. “Nothing.”

Rose collapsed into her chair and frowned. “Maybe this is a - well - er - not pleasant question, but if there are quintapeds, what are they eating?”

Victoire let out a sigh, but it was Dedworth who answered. “That’s a very, very good question.” She looked over at him. The grin had vanished from his face. “Makes you think about these disappearances a little differently, doesn’t it?” She shuddered. “Yeah. Right there with you.”

Dedworth wrung enough analysis out of her while they perused the reports of the kelpie sightings that she could tell he was going to be a good person to learn from, and the rest of the day passed quickly. Rose was just getting ready to leave when she heard a very familiar laugh echo down the corridor.

She stuck her head out and saw her cousin James sauntering down the hall with Natalie McDonald and Brennan Pummell. “Did you see its face?” he asked them. “Did you see its face?”

Brennan was clearly struggling to hold back giggles herself. “Well, that answers that question: forest trolls really are too stupid to feel surprised.”

McDonald wasn’t joining in with their gleefulness - which was probably just as well, since she was supposed to be in charge of them - but she was looking quite amused herself. “You both need to calm down,” she said. “We’re inside now, remember? We have a reputation to maintain.”

James brandished an imaginary wand. “A reputation for being brilliant and getting the job done!”

McDonald surveyed the two of them for another moment before turning away. “I need to go report to Seamus,” she said. “Try to calm yourselves down. It was just a few forest trolls. I’m sure you’ll have to fight them again.” She strode down the corridor toward an ajar door and closed it behind her as she slipped into the room beyond it.

James looked around. “Rosie!” he said, his eyes settling on her. “How are you?”

“Fine, but you don’t really care. What happened with forest trolls?”

Her cousin smirked and ran a hand through his shaggy black hair. Brennan had given up trying to suppress her giggles once McDonald had disappeared, but at this point she appeared to be laughing at James as much as with him.

“We bumped into a few of them,” he said. “We were looking into a possible acromantula nest, actually, but we found trolls instead.” He stretched his hands over his head. He looked exceedingly pleased with himself. “I’ve never gotten to fight a forest troll before.”

“How hard could they be?” Rose asked, leaning against the wall. “I thought forest trolls were the smallest.”

“Oh, they are,” Brennan answered. “But they’re tricky little bastards. Give me a good straightforward mountain troll any day.”

“Really.”

Brennan smiled at the scepticism. “No, I’m actually serious, Rose. Forest trolls always travel in packs. They’re dead stupid, but I think they have a hive mind - like bees, or something - because they always attack together. It really is a pain in the arse. I can take a mountain troll alone, but forest trolls...” She shook her head.

Rose had no idea if bees really did have a hive mind. She rather doubted it - that sounded a little too much like something out of Beedle the Bard’s lost stories or something - but she didn’t care enough to find out. “Huh. Learn something new every day.” That was one of her favourite parts of working for the D.C.B.: no matter how much she learned, there always seemed to be something new. She surveyed James and Brennan again - there was blossoming bruise across his collarbone, and she had a large cut with congealing blood on her cheek. “Did you - er - have to stop to get treated for anything?”

James snorted. “No, Rosie, we didn’t go to St. Mungo’s and say hello to your boyfriend.”

She felt her face colour. She hadn’t meant for her question to be quite so obvious, but it seemed that James knew her too well for it to really matter how she phrased it.

“Wait, your boyfriend works in St. Mungo’s?” Brennan asked, cocking her head to one side. “What, as a Healer?” Rose nodded, and Brennan let out a low whistle. “That’s tough,” she said. “I’m sure he can’t wait for you to get brought in.”

Rose looked away from her. What Scorpius would say when she was carted into St. Mungo’s after some tangle with a monster - it was inevitable that it would happen sooner or later - was not something she wanted to think about just then.

There was an awkward moment where no one seemed to quite know what to say, and then Brennan turned away. “I’m going to get going,” she said. “I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

Rose and James were left standing alone in the corridor. She sighed. “Sorry, James. I didn’t mean to ruin your fun.”

He shrugged and gave an easy smile. “Nah, it’s fine. It’d take more than that to ruin my fun.” He nudged her. “C’mon, buy me a drink as congratulations on the forest troll and all of that.”

Rose considered that for a moment before grinning back. “Sure,” she said. “It’s not like I have anything better to do.” James laughed as she ducked back inside her new cubicle. “I’m heading out, okay?”

Victoire looked up from the map she and Dedworth were examining. “Night,” she said. “Tell James congratulations.”

James poked his head inside. “Thank you,” he said cheerfully. “I’m very pleased with myself.”

“I bet you are.” Victoire glanced back down at the map. “Have fun.”

Rose slipped on her jacket as she and James hurried down the hallway. “Let’s stop and see if Al is around,” James suggested. Rose was more than happy to oblige, but by the time they got to the Auror floor, Albus was gone. Given that Bridget was gone, too, they decided that it probably wasn’t worth the effort to track him down.

Twenty minutes later, they were enjoying drinks at the Leaky Cauldron. Thursday was not a popular drinking night, so the pub was nearly empty, which was probably just as well - James got progressively louder as he worked his way through his first drink, and he didn’t stop talking about the trolls until he’d started his second.

“Hope Dedworth and Vic let me into the field sometime soon.” Rose made a face at her empty glass. “You always have all the luck. I bet now it’ll be quiet for weeks.”

“Nah.” He clinked his glass to hers. “You’ll be out there getting wounded with the best of us in no time.” She rolled her eyes, and he smiled at her. “Want another? My treat.”

“Wasn’t I treating you?”

James shrugged. “You’re my ickle baby cousin. It’s no problem. Do you want one?” 

Rose glanced at the cracked old clock hanging on the wall; it wasn’t even eight o’clock yet. “Sure,” she said. “Thanks.”

He ruffled her hair with one hand and grabbed her glass with the other. She jerked away, scowling at him. He laughed and headed toward the bar.

Rose loved her cousin dearly, but occasionally she wished he’d treat her a little more like an adult and a little less like his baby cousin. She was less than a year younger than he was, and they were both out of Hogwarts and working in the same division. It really wasn’t necessary.

When he pushed her refilled drink across and the table and slid back into the seat across from her, however, the grin he gave her made her irritation melt away. Sometimes James could be a bit obnoxious, but he really did mean it in good fun, and besides, he’d been such a good friend for so long that she really couldn’t find it in her to get too annoyed with him.

“So what’s going on with Al and Bridget?” she asked as he took a sip of his dragonale. He choked on it, and she winced. “Sorry. That bad?” His eyes were watering, but he brushed the tears away and coughed a few times. “Sorry,” she repeated.

He shook his head. “No, it’s fine. You just caught me by surprise.” He took another sip of his drink and looked up at the ceiling. She didn’t rush him, and eventually, he said, “Well, Albus is being Albus. He doesn’t like conflict, and he doesn’t like to talk about his feelings. So poor Bridget was taken completely by surprise when she discovered during their legilimency/occlumency training - which, by the way, is the _stupidest_ thing ever and Dad is cracked for approving it - that he’s had feelings for her since his fourth year.”

Rose winced. “How’d she take that?”

“Before or after she said, in her very exasperated Bridget way, ‘Al, you should have _told_ me. We could have started going out years ago’?” Rose groaned. “Yeah, exactly. That’s why I thought he could use a drink. But they were both gone, so maybe they’re off patching it up.”

Privately, Rose thought it was unlikely that anything that required Albus to talk to Bridget about his feelings could be patched up in an evening, but she decided against saying so. She didn’t have to: from the look on his face, James was similarly sceptical.

“Enough about Albus.” James sat back in his chair and regarded her with open curiosity. “What’s up with you and Scorpius? You clammed up when Bren asked about him earlier - I heard he wanted you to meet his grandmother?”

Rose sighed, feeling gloom start to settle over her. “Yeah. I told him I would. I haven’t heard back from him since then, and now my stomach is all in knots when I think about it. I just wish I could get it over with.”

James regarded her for a moment. “Want some water?”

“Merlin, yes.”

Rose didn’t regret telling Scorpius that she would meet Narcissa Malfoy. It was clearly a sticking point for him, and given how long they’d been together, it wasn’t such an unreasonable thing to ask. However, the anticipation was killing her: she had no idea how Narcissa would actually react to her once they were face-to-face. Rose was a halfblood who was seriously threatening the purity of the Malfoy blood. Blood status freaks tended not to be too fond of her.

Of course, they’d never been fond of her, so Scorpius was really just another excuse.

“So when are you meeting her?” James deposited a glass of water in front of her, and she sipped at it gratefully.

“I don’t know yet, but if I’m lucky, it’ll be weeks.”

James gave a snort of laughter as he finished his drink. “Keep dreaming. I know your boyfriend pretty well at this point. I bet he’ll have it set up for Sunday.” Rose groaned, and her cousin shook his head. “Come on, Rosie. It’ll be interesting, at least.”

Rose sighed. “Yeah, well, as long as she doesn’t start going on at me about polluting the Malfoy blood or whatever, I’ll be happy.”

He grimaced. “Oh. Well. There is that, isn’t there?”

“Mm.” She glanced up at the clock, and was about to suggest that they get going when a question she’d had earlier that day occurred to her. “Oh, I wanted to ask you -” She stopped, trying to figure out how to phrase it.

“Ask me what?” James prompted her.

Rose bit her lip. “Um. This is a little weird, but - well - is Dedworth Ms. Brown’s stalker or her boyfriend?”

James broke into raucous laughter, and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Sorry,” he managed to get out. “It’s just -” He collapsed into another fit of giggles, and she made a face.

It took several minutes for him to calm down enough to answer her, during which time she strongly considered just getting up and leaving. She was about to do so when he finally composed himself.

“Sorry,” he said again. “It’s just - well, first off, she’s Lavender, and he’s Van. She wouldn’t like to be called ‘Ms. Brown,’ and there are two Dedworths in the division, remember?” Rose felt her face start to get red. “And second... oh, Merlin. That’s a good question, and I’m not sure anyone knows the answer except Lavender. And _maybe_ Van.”

“But she’s -” Rose couldn’t think of a tactful way to say it, so she decided to go with the untactful way. “She’s scary and has all those scars and isn’t she about ten years older than him?” James grinned, and she added, ”And she’s his superior. Shouldn’t they not be - um - fraternising, or something?”

“She’s not that scary once you get to know her,” James said. “But all the rest of it - well, kind of, yeah, which is probably why there’s not a simple answer. He’s apparently been in love with her for ages, though.”

“Define ages.”

“At least a decade. Maybe two.”

Rose didn’t think that she would ever be able to look at Van Dedworth the same way again.

By the time she got home, it was well after nine, and she was ready to collapse. The day had been more than a little draining.

As soon as she closed the door behind her, however, she heard a loud noise from her cousin’s room, and after a moment, Lucy’s face appeared around her partially-ajar door. “Hey,” she said. “Scorpius was here. He left you a note.”

Rose frowned as she dropped her jacket and hat on the threadbare couch in their living room. Lucy pursed her lips together, but before she could voice her disapproval, Rose asked, “When? Did he stay for long?”

“He stopped by around seven,” Lucy said, momentarily diverted. “I told him I didn’t know when you’d be back, though, so he didn’t stay. Rose, you really shouldn’t leave your stuff -”

Rose spotted the folded parchment lying on the old wooden table just outside her door. “Thanks, Luce,” she said, bounding over to her room, snatching up the letter, and slipping inside. Just before she closed her door behind her, she heard her cousin let out an exasperated sigh.

She collapsed onto her bed and opened the letter. It was quite short.

_Rose,_

_Talked to my grandmother. She said she’s free Saturday or Sunday, whatever’s easiest for us. She can’t wait to meet you. Owl me back your answer, or just stop by tomorrow._

_Thanks again for doing this - I’m sure you’ll like her._

_Scorpius_


	6. Rose. --- Lunch With Narcissa.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose braves Narcissa Malfoy. 

Rose had intended to stop by Scorpius’s flat on her way home Friday, but she sent her owl with a response, anyway. Committing to an actual time and place would make it a lot more difficult to change her mind, and she’d probably rest easier knowing that, for better or worse, it was taken care of. She suspected that he felt the same way.

_If it’s okay with you, Sunday is probably better. I got my squad assignment today, and I might want to keep you up all night Friday to celebrate._

She rolled the note up and handed it off to her owl. “Take this to Scorpius, okay?”

Godric nipped at her finger before taking flight through the open window, and Rose settled in to read for a bit before going to sleep. She was just switching off the light when her owl swooped back in through her partially ajar window, landed on her nightstand, and held out his leg.

She extracted the note attached to it and ruffled his feathers. He flew back into the night to hunt, and she held her wand over the small piece of parchment.

_All night, huh?_

Rose felt a shiver run through her, and she carefully put it down on her bedside table. Yes, she was definitely going to stop by his place the following evening.

She had never met anyone else who had the power to get her heart racing with three short words the way he could. There weren’t many things that Rose thought that she would be unable to handle, but losing her boyfriend was definitely one of them.

The next day at work saw Rose looking down at a very different piece of parchment that had been handed to her as soon as she’d walked in. “What’s this?”

“Just a precaution.” Dedworth leaned back against his desk. “You know how it goes. Sooner or later you’re going to end up in St. Mungo’s. Everyone in the division has. I doubt it’ll happen tomorrow, but...” He shrugged.

She looked back down at the form. The words “Emergency Contact” leapt out at her, and she started to jot down her mother’s name without even thinking about it. Then something occurred to her.

“Er - my emergency contact doesn’t need to be a relative, right?” Dedworth shook his head, and she crossed out Herm- and etched in Scorpius Malfoy instead. It was entirely possible that her parents would kill her when they found out, but Rose figured that they’d hear about any accident pretty quickly through James, Victoire, or Teddy, anyway, and... well, it was her emergency contact, and after all, she’d been going out with Scorpius for three and a half years. It was her business.

She handed the parchment over a few minutes later, and Dedworth scanned it. “Who’s Scorpius Malfoy?” he asked as he bent down to put it in one of his drawers.

“My boyfriend.” The glance he sent her way made her fidget. “He works in St. Mungo’s.”

“Huh.” Dedworth collapsed into his chair. “Lucky you. Wish I had my own personal Healer.”

“He’s still in training.” What James had told her about Dedworth and Lavender the evening before had her feeling even more awkward around him than she had before, and Victoire was uncharacteristically late. “But - I dunno. My parents will find out through someone. I don’t know if anyone but my cousin Albus would think to tell him, not at first, and if something happens...” She trailed off.

“You want him there?” She nodded. “Yeah, that’s fair. When’d you start going out?”

“Beginning of fifth year.” Rose leaned back and wrapped her arms around herself. “He’s really great.”

As soon as she said that, she felt her face get hot again. “He’s really great” made her sound like she was fifteen again, and they were at the very beginning of their relationship.

Dedworth didn’t comment on it, though. “Good for you,” he said instead. “Malfoy. Hold on, he’s not related to Johanna Greengrass, is he?”

“Er - yes, actually. She’s his cousin. Why?”

“She’s been bragging about her ‘baby cousins’ going into Healing and the Department of Mysteries. I think it made up for her sister taking ‘the most boring option imaginable’ by working as a governess.”

“Who?” Victoire asked from the doorway. “Jo?” Dedworth nodded. “What about her?”

“We were just talking about your cousin’s boyfriend. He’s her emergency contact, apparently.”

Victoire glanced over at Rose, who immediately looked down at the desk in front of her. “Oh. Well, speaking of Jo, she and Micah and Fred are coming by Saturday, if you want to join us.”

Dedworth stretched. “Yeah, I should be able to make it,” he said after a moment of very put-on consideration. “I mean, I might have to cancel a hot date -”

Victoire threw a glove at him. “As if she’d give you a date.” He made a face, and they started to chat about other things. Rose watched them without trying to get involved in the conversation - Victoire had been working with Dedworth for years, and it showed in the easy, relaxed way they interacted. She wondered what they’d be like in the field.

She also wondered whether she’d ever feel comfortable enough to tease either of them the way they teased each other. Victoire was her cousin, of course, and Rose felt comfortable talking to her, but she couldn’t imagine making the sort of off-colour comments about her cousin’s sex life that Dedworth was currently making.

She killed time hanging out with James and Albus for a couple hours after work let out that day before heading to Scorpius’s place - his hours tended to be longer than hers, and she knew he liked a little quiet time at the end of a long week. She knocked on the door when she got there, and the door swung open almost immediately. “You know, you really could just let yourself in,” Scorpius said. “I’ve told you what the spell is.”

“I just feel weird doing it.” She stepped inside the flat and closed the door behind her. “And anyway, what if you decided to go off and have a hot wild affair with some other girl? I could walk in on you, and then that would lead to all sorts of trouble.”

“Yeah, that’s me. I’ve actually got three other girls on the side. I’m just really sneaky about it.” He collapsed onto his couch. “You know, if you were planning to stop by, you didn’t need to owl me back last night.”

“I know.” She curled up against him. “But I wanted to, in case I - er - forgot to bring it up today.”

The smile on his face said that he saw through her excuse, but he didn’t challenge her. “Well, my grandmother’s looking forward to it. I told her we’d meet her at noon on Sunday.”

“Just her, right?” He nodded. “Why’s she so keen on meeting me, anyway?”

“Well, you’ve been going out with her only grandchild for three and a half years. That might have something to do with it.” He slipped an arm around her. “I guess at this point she figures you’ll probably be around forever.”

His tone was casual, but there was something in the way he said that that made Rose feel a little uncomfortable, though she had a hard time placing what it was. Maybe it was his using the word “figures” - it made her feel like maybe _he_ didn’t feel very confident about it.

There was no way to bring it up without coming off as ridiculous, though, especially since there was nothing else in his behavior to suggest that he had any plans to break up with her, and quite a lot to suggest that he didn’t.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” She smiled at him. “I’m just thinking about you with your clothes off. I got distracted.”

He flexed an arm. “Yeah, I’m quite the catch, with my bulging Healer muscles and all. I can see why you’d get distracted.”

“It’s why I stay with you despite your many affairs with other girls.”

He threw his head back and laughed. She ran a finger lightly up his chest, and the laugh ended in a strangled sort of yelp. “Rose -”

She slung her leg over his and kissed his neck. “I missed you,” she breathed into his ear.

His arms came up to encircle her, and she smiled as she pressed her lips against his. When she pulled away, he brought a hand up to stroke her hair. “Merlin, I love you.”

He leaned in for another kiss, and Rose felt herself relax. She was just starting to think about dragging him into his bedroom when he cleared his throat. “You said you got your squad assignment?”

“Oh!” She hadn’t realized that she hadn’t brought it up yet. “Yeah, they put me with Vic and Van Dedworth. Hopefully I’ll be getting out into the field soon.”

When she got up the nerve to look back at him, he surprised her with a smile. “Congratulations.” He even sounded sincere. “I’m sure you’ll be great.”

She didn’t know why it hit her so strongly just then - it wasn’t like Scorpius wasn’t usually supportive - but there was something about his reaction that she found extremely comforting. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

“Rose, I don’t mean to be repetitive, but are you okay?”

She blinked to refocus on him. “What? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking.”

“Oh?”

She leaned forward and kissed him. “I love you.”

His face relaxed a little. “You’ve mentioned.”

She didn’t end up keeping Scorpius up for the _entire_ night, but it had stretched in the early morning hours by the time they finally fell asleep. As he started to snore quietly beside her, she stretched her arms up above her head and stared up at the ceiling, feeling as light as a feather. She was finally starting work for real, Scorpius didn’t seem to be turning into an insane overprotective jerk about it, and the lunch was actually set up. She was even starting to feel reasonably optimistic about the whole thing. He was right; his grandmother was hardly going to be anything other than pleasant, considering that if she was rude to Rose, she was going to seriously harm her relationship with her grandson.

They slept in the next day, and by the time Rose got home, it was early evening. She spent a couple hours talking to Lucy, who got home around the same time she did, before turning in.

By the time Scorpius arrived on Sunday, the optimism she’d had on Friday night had been replaced by nervousness. She resisted the urge to pretend to be sick - this was going to be difficult, but it was something that she knew she had to do.

Besides, every time she started to consider trying to get out of it, she could remember Scorpius accusing her of cowardice. He hadn’t said anything along those lines in years, but before they started going out, he’d made a few remarks along those lines to her just to get under her skin, and she’d never quite gotten over them.

“Just imagine she’s a manticore,” Rose muttered to herself as she scrutinised her appearance in the mirror. “She could eat you.”

This felt oddly comforting, and kept her feeling relatively calm right up until Scorpius pulled the door to the restaurant open and Rose saw his grandmother look up.

She’d seen Narcissa Malfoy in photographs, of course, but even if she hadn’t, there would have been no mistaking the resemblance.

“She’s just a manticore,” she said under her breath.

Scorpius looked at her curiously. “What?”

“Nothing.”

As they neared the table, his grandmother smoothed her deep green robes before pushing the chair back and getting to her feet. She had greying blonde hair, and Rose’s immediate impression was that she was meeting some sort of minor royalty.

“Hey, Gran.” Scorpius hugged her, and Rose saw a tense sort of smile spread across Narcissa Malfoy’s face. She murmured something that Rose couldn’t quite make out, and Scorpius stepped back and slid an arm around Rose’s waist. “Rose, this is my grandmother, Narcissa Malfoy. Gran, this is Rose.”

Rose stuck out her hand, and Scorpius’s grandmother took it gingerly. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy.”

When she’d first greeted Scorpius’s mother in that manner, she’d been immediately told to call her Astoria. The contrast between the two was stark; where Astoria had immediately tried to put her at ease, Narcissa Malfoy seemed to take the formality for granted. She wasn’t cold – she just wasn’t really warm, either.

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Rose.” She sounded genuine, at least, and Rose didn’t miss the look she shot Scorpius that seemed to scream, “It’s about time.”

Rose forced a smile that she hoped looked genuine, too, and turned toward the chairs on their side of the table. Before she could get to the one diagonal from Mrs. Malfoy, however, Scorpius pulled it out.

She had to smother the urge to kill him - she didn’t really want to be sitting across from his grandmother. Rather than sink into it, however, he looked at her expectantly, and after a moment, she realised that he had pulled it out for her to sit in.

“I - er - thanks.”

As he sank into the seat next to her, his grandmother asked in a clipped tone, “Scorpius, don’t you usually pull Rose’s chair out for her?”

“Sure I do.”

“Then why does she look so confused?”

He nudged Rose’s chair with his foot, and she tried to wipe the confusion off her face. “Oh, no, Mrs. Malfoy, he’s a perfect - um - gentleman.”

She resisted the urge to add, ‘or something.’ She doubted Narcissa Malfoy would appreciate that as much as Scorpius’s parents probably would.

Mrs. Malfoy did not seem convinced, but she did drop it, which was good enough. Rose was fairly certain that starting lunch off with an explanation of why she was glad that Scorpius didn’t do that sort of thing - ever - would not have been ideal.

“Scorpius tells me you work with the Ministry.”

“Yes, I - I do.” Rose glanced around the room - surely it was high time for a waiter to come by to take their order? She shifted uncomfortably as she looked back at Mrs. Malfoy. “Manticores.”

Mrs. Malfoy raised her eyebrows. “I beg your pardon?”

“That’s - that’s what my department does. We deal with manticores, I mean. And other magical creatures.”

Rose was starting to sound like a complete simpleton, and she knew it. She was therefore more than a little grateful when she heard the waiter’s voice.

“Would you like to start with something to drink?”

Her relief was short-lived, however, when she realised that she didn’t actually know who would be paying for the lunch. Typically, when her parents (or aunts, or uncles, or grandparents) invited her out to eat, they paid for lunch. Scorpius’s parents had always waved aside her attempts to pay them for what she’d ordered.

Scorpius’s grandmother, however, lived in a different world. Maybe in her world, women never paid for anything. Maybe she thought that she was gracing Rose with her presence. Maybe -

“Rose?” Scorpius nudged her. All three of them were staring expectantly at her.

“Just water. Thanks.”

The waiter nodded, gave a pleasant smile, and walked off. Scorpius leaned over to her to murmur, “Don’t worry about paying.”

She blinked at him, and he grinned. “Come on,” he said, still keeping his voice low. “I’ve been with you for how long?” He reached over and squeezed her hand, and she felt herself relax a little.

“I love you,” she said without thinking, and then the sound of someone clearing their throat brought her back to reality in a very unpleasant way.

When she looked over at Scorpius’s grandmother, however, Mrs. Malfoy seemed to be trying to suppress a small smile.

“You work with magical creatures?” she prompted.

“Oh.” Rose shook herself. “Yes. I do. I’m just a trainee, though, I haven’t even been out in the field yet. I just got assigned this a squad this week.”

“But what exactly do you _do_ with them?”

“Capture them. Kill them. I mean, it depends on whether we’re talking about a kelpie or a nest of acromantulas, you know?”

Mrs. Malfoy’s eyebrows rose again, and Rose slumped back in her seat. This was going to be a long lunch.


	7. Rose. --- A Visit With Albus.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose deals with the aftermath of the lunch, and later receives a letter from Narcissa.

“Well, that wasn't that bad, was it?”

Rose gave a noncommittal grunt. It hadn't been that bad, not really - she’d been worried Narcissa Malfoy would have a go at her at soon as Scorpius got up to go to the loo about her Muggleborn mother and her blood traitor father, or at the very least about her career, and she hadn’t. However, she'd remained a little cold and aloof throughout the meal, and the way she'd taken Rose's hand at the end and said, “Well, I wish you the best of luck” made Rose feel more than a little uncomfortable in a way that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

“Oh, come on.” Scorpius collapsed onto the couch next to her. “It was fine.”

Rose shrugged. “I guess.”

He slumped back against cushions. “All right, fine. What exactly was so bad about it?”

“I-” She glanced over at him, and he raised his eyebrows. “Merlin, Scorpius. Nothing, I guess. It was just...” She shrugged again. “You know.”

“No, I don't.” He kicked off his shoes and pulled his knees up to his chest. “What was so bad about it?”

One day, she was going to kill her boyfriend. He usually let things go when they weren't really important, but there were times – like now – that he could be so frustratingly, purposefully dense. “Nothing. It just – I don't know. I felt like she was judging me.”

“Well, weren't you judging her?”

Rose blew out her breath. She was starting to feel thoroughly exasperated. “That's different.”

“No, it isn't.” Unlike her, he seemed to be the picture of perfect calm, which she found quite irritating. “Yeah, she was judging you a bit. What do you expect? She's been hearing about you for years from me, my parents, Noah, Albus... Judgment doesn't always have to be negative, you know. She was just sizing you up.”

Rose sighed. “Look, it really did go fine. I guess. Just give me a little time to process it, okay?”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but after a moment, he just said, “Fair enough.”

Somehow, that made her feel even worse.

The next hour passed peacefully enough; neither of them brought up the lunch again. However, after the second chess game in which it was clear that neither of their hearts were really in it, Rose decided to call it quits.

“I'm going to head home, okay?”

He glanced up from the chess pieces he was putting back into their wooden case. “Oh. Yeah, sure.”

Rose held out her hands. After a moment, he let her pull him up off the couch and leaned down to brush his lips against her forehead. “Thanks for coming today. It meant a lot to me.”

She forced herself to smile. “No problem.”

She did love him, and she didn’t want to turn this into a problem… but for what felt like the first time in a long time, she was actually relieved to be getting away from him.

When Rose was feeling this out of sorts, there was only one place she wanted to go, and it wasn't home. Hoping that Scorpius wouldn't end up having the same idea – it had happened once or twice before, and been rather awkward – she headed over to the Potters'.

It was only after she knocked that she realized that James probably wouldn't even be there – there was an Arrows match that she also would've liked to go to but, unlike him, couldn't afford – and Albus might well have Bridget over.

Sure enough, when the door swung open, she peeked down the corridor past Albus enough to see Bridget curled up on the red couch that had really seen much better days. Merlin only knew where James had unearthed it from.

“Hey,” her cousin said, stepping back to let her inside.

“I – hi. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you had company.” Rose hovered on the threshold. “I can come back later.”

Albus rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything, Bridget called out, “Hey, Rose, come in and stay awhile.”

She glanced at Albus, who shrugged and waved his hand in the vague direction of the living room.

“Sorry,” she said, too quietly for Bridget to hear. “I wasn't thinking. I should have known she'd be over.”

Albus let out a soft laugh. “No, I'm glad you're here. She was on at me earlier in the morning about how we never spend time with my friends. Maybe now she'll let up.”

Rose glanced at him. His expression was deceptively mild, but they'd reached the doorway and she couldn't very well press him further with Bridget sitting right there.

Instead, she turned to the brunette sitting on the couch. “Hey, Bridget.”

Bridget grinned. “Hey, Rose. Long time no see.”

Rose collapsed into the more comfortable of the Potters' two armchairs. “It is, isn't it? We used to see each other all the time at school.” She reached out her foot and nudged Albus as he stepped past her to take his seat on the couch. “I guess you traded me in for this one, huh?”

Bridget's eyes twinkled. “Poor judgment on my part.” Albus snorted loudly, and she leaned over to kiss his cheek. “He's got his qualities, though.”

After a moment of hesitation, Albus put his arm around her shoulders. “Note that she doesn't say they're good qualities.”

She smiled and leaned against him. “Oh, they're all right.”

Rose studied her cousin. He seemed reasonably relaxed, and she could have sworn that he was even holding back a smile. For Albus, that was definitely progress. Maybe one day he'd even start calling Bridget his girlfriend rather than just changing the subject whenever she came up.

Maybe.

Rose really had no idea how Bridget managed to be so patient with him.

“So, what's wrong?” Albus asked. She considered dissembling her distress, but he saved her from making the decision by adding, “Really. Don't pretend there isn't something wrong.”

Rose slumped back in her chair. “I just met Scorpius's grandmother.”

Bridget's eyebrows shot up. “You hadn't before?” Rose shook her head. “But you've been with him for _years.”_

“Yeah. I know.”

Albus sighed and rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “Well, how did it go?”

“Not... not badly, I guess. But I don't think she liked me very much. She was kind of... cold.”

Bridget gave her a look of sympathy, but her cousin bit his lip. “Rose, that's just kind of how she is. It might not have been personal.”

“That's what he said, too, but how hard is it to be a litle friendly?”

Albus shrugged. “I dunno. It's not like we don't have cousins who can be a little cold when you first meet them, though.” Rose opened her mouth to argue, and he fixed her with a look. “Don't even try. I'm not saying I don't love them, but you know it's true.”

She closed her mouth.

Bridget twisted around. “Who in your family is like that?”

“Dominique and Roxanne are both _terrible_ like that.”

“Roxanne isn't cold,” Bridget said immediately, with all the fervor of someone who had shared a dormitory with their cousin for seven years at Hogwarts. Bridget hadn't been one of Roxanne and James's group of troublemakers, but they'd always gotten on quite well, and she'd been a frequent addition to their group on Hogsmeade outings and in evenings in the Gryffindor Common Room.

“To you? No. I'm sure she wasn't. To other people, people who aren't Gryffindors? Yeah, she can, a bit. I love her, but she can. She's been awful to Scorpius, Rose knows she has.”

Rose shifted in her seat. She did know. It wasn't that Roxanne had done anything particularly bad – James had probably actually jinxed Scorpius a lot more in their last few years at Hogwarts than Roxanne had – but with James, you always got the sense that it was in good fun. Conversely, Roxanne had never really warmed to the Slytherin, even after Rose had started going out with him. She'd tolerated his presence, but she'd also always given off the impression that she considered herself above him.

Rose loved Roxanne dearly, but her cousin did have her faults.

Dominique, at least, was generally a little chilly to everyone at first, unless they mentioned football. Rose still didn't understand the allure, but Dominique was absolutely obsessed with the Muggle sport.

She realised with a start that Bridget was looking at her. “Oh. I – Al's right, she has been, a bit. I wouldn't say awful, but... she hasn't exactly been friendly, either.”

“After three and a half years of his going out with one of her favourite cousins, I think that qualifies as awful.”

There was a little too much sense in that for Rose to argue with, so she didn't reply.

“I dunno,” Bridget said before Albus could press the point further. “I think that's different, though. Maybe you're right, I never paid attention to how she was with other Houses, but she's just Rose's cousin, not her grandmother.”

“It is, but Mrs. Malfoy...” Albus trailed off for a moment. “I think she lives in a different world from the rest of us, in some ways. She's come a long way, Rosie. She was probably just scared of inadvertently saying something offensive.”

“It shouldn't be that hard to not say something offensive.”

“Well, no, but are we talking about a perfect world or the one we actually live in?”

Rose shifted her gaze away from her cousin and onto the floor. “Maybe. I dunno, maybe I just need time to process it.” She glanced up at the clock. “Look, I can go, I'm really fine. I don't want to intrude.”

“Oh, you're not intruding.” Bridget smiled at her. Rose hadn't seen Bridget in so long that she'd almost forgotten quite how much the girl smiled, which was probably a big part of why Albus liked her so much. “I was just saying to Albus this morning that it would be really nice to spend time with his friends once in awhile.” She glanced up at Albus, who grunted something unintelligible. “I'm starting to think he's ashamed of me.”

“I'm not – that's not – Bridget, come off it, that's not the problem. I just – ” Her shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter as he stumbled over the words, and he stopped. “Yeah. Right. You're funny.”

“I know.” She flashed a smile up at him, and to Rose's surprise, he leaned down to brush his lips against hers. It was quick, and for almost any other couple their age, it wouldn't have been at all unusual, but this was Albus. From the look on Bridget's face when Albus looked back up, Rose wasn't the only one who was a little taken aback.

“Anyway.” Albus's face was a little flushed as Bridget curled back up against him, looking very pleased, but Rose thought that she could see the beginnings of a smile at the corners of his mouth. “What happened? Did you two have a fight or something about it?”

“Not a fight, exactly.” Rose began to pick at a loose thread on her sweater. “A fight would have been better, honestly. It was just kind of... we argued, I guess, and then we tried to let it go but it didn't really work. After about an hour of it, I had to get out of there.” She glanced involuntarily toward the front door.

“Don't worry. I doubt he'll be coming over.” She looked back at her cousin. “He knows Bridget is usually here on Sundays, and...”

“And he knows that Albus is deeply ashamed of me and can't bear the thought of his best friend meeting me and thinking poorly of Al's choices,” Bridget finished for him. She was biting her lip to hold back a smile, which Albus clearly failed to notice.

“I'm not – stop saying that. I – I just – well, maybe I just don't want to share you. And – you – ” Her grin had gotten progressively wider as he talked, and he finally noticed it. “Oh, shut up. You know, maybe I am ashamed. I don't know that I want my best friend knowing I'm – er – well – you know – ” She raised her eyebrows. “Oh, fine, maybe I don't want Scorpius knowing I'm with a girl who won't stop torturing me.”

“Oh, are you with me, now?”

He groaned and let his head fall back onto the couch, and Bridget exchanged an amused look with Rose. “I hate you all,” Albus muttered.

“Oh, I know.” Her voice was cheerful. “Anyway, Rose, I think the only time I've actually seen Scorpius since I left school was when I bumped into him at Gringotts a few weeks ago. He never comes here when I'm here. You're probably safe.”

Albus sighed and got up. “I'll be right back.” He headed down the hall toward the loo, and Rose grinned at Bridget.

“You really do torture him, you know.”

Bridget acknowledged it with a shrug of her shoulders. “He just makes it so easy, sometimes. I don't think he minds.”

“No, I'm pretty sure he doesn't.” Rose cocked her head to the side. “So, he's 'with you,' now? That's progress, isn't it?”

Bridget shrugged again. “You'd think, but we'll see whether he sticks to it or not.” She smiled again. “Bit annoying, really, but on the whole, I think he's worth being patient with. He's a good guy.”

“Yeah. He is.” Rose felt a brief flash of jealousy. She was happy for her cousin, she really was – he'd spent a long time lusting after Bridget without doing anything about it, and to see it finally working out for him was gratifying to see. At the same time, moments like this made her feel a little insecure about her own relationship. Albus and Bridget might have their problems – not least among them that Albus was, for whatever reason, extremely uneasy about making things official and had a tendency to try to keep Bridget and the rest of his social life very far away from each other – but at least it seemed like they were moving, slowly but surely, in the right direction.

Rose was a little less confident that she and Scorpius were doing the same thing, and she wasn’t sure how to get that back on track.

“It'll be okay.” Rose shook herself and and looked back at Bridget, who was no longer smiling. “You and Scorpius, I mean. I'm sure you'll work it out. I don't really know him – I never have – but I do know that he's crazy about you. As long as you're still crazy about him... don't worry. You'll work it out.”

“I hope so.”


	8. Scorpius. --- An Unexpected Friendship.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius chances upon James Potter in the Leaky Cauldron.

Scorpius was heading through the Leaky Cauldron on his way back home from Diagon Alley when he heard someone call his name. By now, it was late afternoon, and the pub was nearly empty. When he glanced over toward the booths, he saw James Potter raising a mostly-empty glass toward him. He started toward the dark-haired man, but pulled up when his companion turned around.

The woman, whose skin was several shades darker than James’s and significantly darker than his own - Rose and Albus were both always after Scorpius to spend more time outside - saw his hesitation and smiled wryly. She drained what was left in her glass and shook her windswept brown hair behind her shoulders. “Don’t worry,” she said to him. “I was just leaving.”

Scorpius hovered while she got up, slid onto the bench next to James, and wrapped her arms around him. “I miss you,” he heard her say.

“I miss you, too, Rox.” James returned the hug. “Let’s do it again sometime soon.”

“Count on it.” She gave Scorpius a surprisingly cordial nod - they’d never really gotten along - before leaving the pub through the front to enter Muggle London.

James jerked his head at the bench across from him. “You can sit down if you like,” he said. “Or you could just hover uncomfortably.”

Scorpius was startled into a laugh, and he slid into the side of the booth Roxanne had just vacated. “Did you go to the Arrows match today?” he asked, eyeing the bright green scarf draped around James’s neck.

James grinned. “Yeah. They were playing the Harpies, and Roxanne got a couple amazing seats because she’s been dating Shannon Morris,” he said, naming the first-choice Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies.

Scorpius knew that Mrs. Potter had played for the Harpies and that the Potter-Weasley clan had friends - and now, with Roxanne, family - who’d gone on to play professional Quidditch, but he’d never quite adjusted to the blasé way they talked about people who were famous across the country.

Or even the world. Shannon Morris was a world-class Seeker.

“Is that allowed?” he asked. “Doesn’t Roxanne play for the Falcons?”

“Yeah, it’s discouraged, but it happens - and besides, if they field Roxanne next time the Falcons play the Harpies, she’ll probably hit bludgers at Shannon with even more enthusiasm than usual. The better she knows you, the more competitive she gets.”

Scorpius grinned. He’d never gotten to know Roxanne well - she hadn’t ever quite forgiven him for being a Slytherin and ‘stealing away Rosie’s naive little heart with his questionable charm and admittedly gorgeous eyes,’ as she’d sardonically put it - but from what he _did_ know, that sounds a lot like her.

James finished his glass and glanced over at the clock. It was just before six. “I don’t need to get back yet,” he said to Scorpius. “Do you want to join me for another round?”

Scorpius considered this. His relationship with James had been fairly acrimonious throughout his first four years at Hogwarts, despite his friendship with Albus, but after he’d started dating Rose, the other boy had become a little more friendly. Still, it was only very recently that Scorpius had started to think that James might actually be his friend, and the idea of spending time alone with James felt a strange to him.

“Sure. What the hell.” He stripped off his light jacket and followed James up to the bar.

When they’d each secured a glass and settled back into the booth, Scorpius took a sip of the ale he’d gotten. James took a much larger gulp of his own and set his glass back down on the table with more force than Scorpius had.

“So,” James said. “This is interesting.”

Scorpius laughed. “Yeah, I was just thinking that. It wasn’t that long ago that you hated me.”

“True,” the other man acknowledged. “Though don’t play the victim - you weren’t all that fond of me, either.” He took another sip from his drink. “I think I like it better this way. Hating people is too much effort.”

Scorpius rolled his eyes as he raised his glass to his lips. He’d gotten to know James well enough to know that he almost never came out and said what he actually met, at least not to anyone he wasn’t very, very close to - Rose and Albus both seemed to see a different side to him sometimes, but it was so at-odds with his usual personality Scorpius still wasn’t sure he believed them.

“So, wasn’t today that big lunch?” James asked. “How’d it go?”

Scorpius made a face. “Merlin, I have _no idea._ I thought it went mostly okay - my grandmother behaved herself, and it seemed like Rose was okay… but then we got back to my place afterward, and things were just kind of tense. She ended up leaving pretty quickly.”

James shrugged. “That doesn’t sound so bad. I mean, what exactly were you expecting? I’m _still_ surprised that there wasn’t any awkwardness after she met your father, and that was years ago.”

“Well, he tried really hard to be friendly,” Scorpius said. “And he convinced my mother they didn’t need to put charms on the doors to stop us from - well, you know. That helped.”

“Sneaking into each other’s rooms and getting nice and handsy?” Scorpius felt his face get a little hot, and James grinned at him. “Oh, lighten up. You know, the first I heard about you liking Rose was when I dragged her up to my dormitory for a heart-to-heart because she was acting like a zombie, and she said, ‘So I’m pretty sure Scorpius Malfoy wants to sleep with me.’”

Scorpius stared at him. For a moment, he was actually at a loss for words. “You’re joking,” he finally managed to get out. James shook his head, his smile getting a little broader. “How do you even _remember_ that? It was years ago!”

“I’ve got a good memory. Don’t tell anyone, though - they’ll start expecting me to remember things I didn’t care enough to notice in the first place.” He took another gulp from his ale, which he was already almost half-finished with. “Anyway. The point is, if I didn’t jinx you then, I’m certainly not going to get the vapors over it now.”

Scorpius shook his head, momentarily diverted. “Was that seriously how she put it?” he asked incredulously.

“Yep. Little crude, I’ll grant you, but in her defense, it _was_ true.”

“Yeah, well.” Scorpius took another sip, this one to distract himself as anything. “Anyway. I just… I mean, I guess I get why she felt a little uncomfortable about the lunch, but it would have been nice if she’d talked to me about it rather than run off. When _I’ve_ felt uncomfortable after _her_ family gatherings, I haven’t pushed her away.”

James considered that. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “I guess I can see that. But I don’t think it’s the same thing. You’re uncomfortable for perfectly normal reasons - big groups of people you don’t know, venturing into the Muggle world, her overprotective father. But she’s uncomfortable because, no offense, but your dad’s parents were - and probably still are - Muggle haters, and your dad’s father was actually a _Death Eater._ I’m not saying you shouldn’t have asked her to do the lunch, but I am saying that you shouldn’t compare your reactions, because they’re not the same thing.”

Scorpius considered the other man for a minute. “I think that made sense, which means that I’m seriously getting relationship advice from James Potter. Never really saw that coming, I’ll admit.”

James let out a snort of laughter. “Neither did I, but here we are. Anyway, I know she’s been worried about sticking her foot in her mouth, as Rosie is so prone to doing, so I bet she just wanted to go off and process it somewhere that wasn’t with you. You’ll be fine.”

By this point, they’d just about reached their capacity to talk about matters of such personal importance, and they moved on to talking about Quidditch and work instead. On one hand, the way James approached fieldwork didn’t exactly lessen any of Scorpius’s alarm bells, but on the other, he did appreciate getting some more perspective on what Rose was likely to be facing, especially since the subject was no longer as theoretical as it had been a month ago. James’s interest in Healing also didn’t seem to have waned since they’d last discussed it, which was a little gratifying - sometimes, Scorpius really did wonder whether everyone around him was judging him for not pursuing the same path of mayhem that they had, so getting genuine questions from someone who had no motivation to fake it was a nice change.

It was stretching into the evening by the time Scorpius and James parted ways to head home, and as Scorpius trudged up the stairs to his flat on the third floor, he still couldn’t quite get over how strange friendship could be sometimes. Drinks and heart-to-hearts about Rose with James was something that he’d freely admit that he hadn’t seen coming.

He came up short as he turned down the hallway that led to his flat. Rose was leaning against the banister and glaring at his door. “Rose?” 

She jumped and nearly fell over. “Scorpius! You scared me!”

“Er - sorry? In my defense, I do, you know, live here.”

She made a face. “Can we talk?”

His heart dropped a little, but the two drinks he’d had at the Leaky Cauldron with James were definitely keeping him artificially relaxed. “Sure,” he said, letting them both inside. As soon as he’d closed the door behind him, she threw herself at him with such force he stumbled backward into the wall.

“Are you okay?” he asked, returning the hug.

“Yeah.” She pulled back. “I just - oh my god, have you been drinking? Your breath smells _awful.”_

Well, there she was. “Thanks,” he said, leading her into the living room.

“Sorry. Just… I wasn’t really expecting it. I didn’t even realize you weren’t home - I’ve been glaring at your door for fifteen minutes trying to figure out what I wanted to say.” She settled onto the couch with him and gave him a quizzical look. “Who were you out drinking with on a Sunday night?”

“Well, I didn’t plan it,” he told her. “I just bumped into a friend in the Leaky Cauldron on my way back from Gringotts. What’s going on? Are you okay?”

He hoped that she wouldn’t press him on who the friend was - he didn’t really want to admit just now that he’d been out socializing with James. It was too strange.

Thankfully, Rose tended to take people at face value, so she allowed herself to be deflected. That was definitely one of the bright sides of dating a very impulsive Gryffindor - there was no way any Slytherin he knew wouldn’t have either pressed him for more information or consciously decided not to. “I’m fine,” she said. “I just wanted to apologize for leaving so abruptly. Lunch really did go fine - it was just weird for me, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with that.”

She was fidgeting again. “Rose?” He put a hand on her elbow to stop her from nervously twirling her hair. “Look, I know that this was a big ask, and I really appreciate you doing it. You don’t need to have all your thoughts in order to talk to me about it - my grandparents have done some pretty screwed up things in their lives, and I really, _really_ don’t want this to turn into you shouldering their burden because you’re afraid you might hurt my feelings.”

Now her face relaxed a little. “Okay,” she said. “God, you’re starting to sound a little like James, you know that?”

“Huh. Weird.”


	9. Rose. --- The Letter.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose receives a letter from Narcissa Malfoy and researches Erklings.

When Rose got home from Albus’s, Lucy stuck her head out of her room. “Hey, Rosie. How was lunch?”

Rose shrugged. “It was.”

Her cousin didn't press her. Instead, she jerked her head toward the side table next to their couch. “That came for you an hour or two ago.”

“Oh. Thanks, Luce.”

“Sure.” Lucy smiled and disappeared back into her room as Rose picked up the letter. _Ms. Rose Weasley_ was written on the front, in elegant script that she did not recognise, and she slit it open as she slipped into her room, feeling more than a little curious. As soon as she'd opened it, she glanced down at the bottom to identify the sender.

Her stomach dropped when she saw the signature. _Narcissa Malfoy_ was written in the same elegant script.

“Oh, hell.” She sank onto her bed before going back to the top.

Rose read through the letter, but when she reached Narcissa Malfoy's signature, she found that she had neither retained nor properly processed any of it.

She groaned and fell backward onto her bed. “I hate my life,” she muttered, tossing the letter aside. “I hate my life.”

She hadn't often had occasion to wish she hadn't made the decision in her fifth year to start going out with a pureblood from a family of questionable origins, but she was beginning to regret it now. Her happy little bubble had been popped by the introduction of Narcissa Malfoy and her cool stares and her composure, and she did not appreciate it.

She picked up the letter again.

_Miss Weasley,_

Rose immediately threw it aside again, feeling the tension she’d mostly shed at Scorpius’s building up again. This would be it. Narcissa Malfoy would insult her, or tell her to stay away from Scorpius, or just be so perfectly polite that it would be abundantly clear that she really hated Rose. And once that happened, her relationship with Scorpius was going to be a lot more strained. What if it led to fights and resentment? What if -

She brushed the letter onto the floor, threw a pillow on top of it for good measure, and stared up at the ceiling trying to think about anything but what she was sure was her impending break up.

She didn't know how long it was until there was a knock at her door. After a moment, Lucy stuck her head in. “Rosie, do you want any tea – oh, no, Rose, what's wrong?”

Rose grunted and rolled over to face the wall. Part of her wanted Lucy to just go away and leave her to her misery. Another part – a bigger part – wanted Lucy to comfort her, but she certainly wasn't going to ask.

She felt Lucy sink onto her bed. “Rosie, what happened?”

“It was from his grandmother.” Rose pulled her knees up to her chest. She wondered whether it was possible to convince your heart to beat slower. “The letter, I mean.”

“I thought it might be. What did it say?”

Rose sniffled. She thought she might be about to cry, but given how awful she was feeling already, she felt very sure that she ought to avoid crying if at all possible. Crying had a tendency to give her a headache and make her too nauseous to eat, and she had work the next day. “I don't know.”

“You don't know?”

She shook her head. “I didn't read it.” She waved her hand in the vague direction of the letter. “It's down there.”

Her cousin reached over her to retrieve it. “Would you like me to read it first?”

Rose nodded, and she heard Lucy unfold the parchment. Her heart was hammering, and she was beginning to feel quite ill despite her successful attempts to hold back tears.

“Rosie, I think you should read this.”

“No. She hates me, and she probably told me to stay away from Scorpius, and I don't wa – want to stay away from Sc – Scorpius, and once I read it everything is going to fall apart and – “

“Rose.” She hiccuped and glanced up at her cousin. Lucy was holding out the letter with a look of long-suffering patience across her face. “Read the letter.” Rose started to shake her head, but the look in Lucy's eyes made her reconsider, and she took the letter without further complaint. She struggled into a sitting position and steeled herself before looking down at the elegant, sloping script.

_Ms. Weasley,_

_I had a lovely time at lunch. It was very nice to finally meet you. I hope we can get together again soon._

_Thank you for coming._

_Narcissa Malfoy_

Rose blinked down at it a few times after she'd finished it, and then turned the piece of parchment over, half-expecting to see something written on the other side. It was blank.

“That's _it?”_

“Mm.” Lucy looked like she was struggling to contain her amusement. “Think you might have overreacted a bit?”

“I – why on earth would she send this? What was the point? She scared me half to death!”

Lucy shrugged. “She's old wizarding blood, she was probably raised to have good manners. Yes, I know it's a difficult concept for you to understand.” Rose reached out to shove her lightly, and Lucy got to her feet. “Come on. I’m making tea, come join me.”

“I'll be there in a second.” Rose let herself fall backward onto the bed again, buried her face in a pillow, and screamed. Sometimes, she really, really hated her boyfriend's family. 'Manners' were no excuse to give a person a heart attack.

Rose was just glad that she was back at work the next day. It saved her from having to think about whether she ought to write Narcissa Malfoy back. Work was a safe little bubble in some ways – when she was there, she didn't have to worry about people judging her or liking her boyfriend too much or not liking him at all. She could just be herself and say what she pleased, rather than worry about all the ramifications.

“Morning,” Victoire said as soon as she walked in.

“Morning,” she replied, hanging up her coat and collapsing into her chair. “How was your weekend?”

Victoire grinned. “Not bad. But how about you?” Victoire asked as Dedworth appeared in the doorway of their little cubicle. “Weren't you meeting Scorpius's grandmother this weekend?”

Rose grimaced. “Oh. That. Yeah, I did. She was...” She had no idea what to say, so she trailed off. Victoire gave her a sympathetic look.

“You met Narcissa Malfoy?” Dedworth asked as he sat down. Rose nodded. “Did you get a 'thank you' note?” Her surprise must have been apparent on her face, because he let out a loud snort. “That's what she does. Jo’s got a stack of them from every one of her cousin's family birthday parties that she went to when he was a kid.”

A small bit of the tension she'd been feeling lifted from her shoulders. “Yeah, I did. She does that to everyone?”

“I don't know about everyone, but she did it for Jo.”

Victoire reached over and patted her arm. “See? It must have gone better than you thought.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw Dedworth wince. “What?” She was starting to feel a little more comfortable talking to him about non-work related things - something about him knowing one of Scorpius’s favorite cousins made him feel more trustworthy.

“Well, a note doesn't necessarily mean she likes you,” Dedworth said. “I mean, maybe she does, but she _really_ doesn't like Johanna.”

Victoire rolled her eyes. “Oh, Rose, don't listen to him. Jo's always exaggerating and saying people hate her when they don't.”

“Well, yeah, but this time she's serious. Narcissa Malfoy really doesn't like her.”

“Why not?” both women asked together.

Dedworth shrugged. “I don't know. Probably a combination of Johanna's bad manners and her lack of self-preservation. Maybe she thought Jo was be a bad role model for her grandson.”

Objectively, what he was saying probably should have made Rose feel worse, but it was actually having the opposite effect. Whether or not Mrs. Malfoy hated her, if it didn’t affect Johanna, she could probably shrug it off, too.

“Come on,” Dedworth said, jerking his head toward the chair next to him. “I have something for you to look over. What does this sound like to you?” he asked, passing her a report.

She scanned it. The first thought that popped into her head didn’t make much sense, so she read through the document again, this time more slowly. “I - I’m not sure,” she said after her third time through.

Dedworth raised his eyebrows at her. “It’s bad form to lie to your superior, you know.”

Rose wrinkled her nose as she read through the document a fourth time. “Well, I had an idea, but it’s stupid.” When he kept looking at her, she sighed. “It _sounds_ a little like an erkling. The little boy said he heard someone giggling in the forest, but he wasn’t allowed to go out on his own. But they’re on the continent. They don’t exist here.” Her voice wavered slightly with uncertainty as she looked up at him. “Do they?”

“Good question.” He ran a hand through his dark brown hair, which was cropped close to his head. “That we know of, no, but there’s an awful lot we don’t know these days.”

“But how would it get here?” she asked. “They don’t swim. And I thought the German Ministry had them under control.”

He shrugged. “Maybe it hitched a ride on something. Maybe someone or something brought it. Hard to say. And as far as the German Ministry goes... well, if this does turn out to be an erkling, that’ll be a good question to ask them, won’t it?”

Rose only half-heard his comment about the German Ministry. “Someone?”

“Well, you’ll have a hard time convincing me that all the creatures that seem to have hopped over from the continent in the last decade figured it out on their own. Most of them aren’t very smart, you know.”

Victoire, who was sitting behind Van, tossed a book to her. “Start reading up. I’m sure you could use a refresher on Erklings - when was the last time you thought about facing one of them?”

Rose managed to repress a sigh. She didn’t understand how even the most exciting jobs could have so much boring desk work. She’d have almost regretted going into the D.C.B., but according to her cousin Louis, Hit Wizards was exactly the same.

And if even the Hit Wizards made you crack open a book,  _everyone_ did.

“Got it.” Rose cracked the book open. It wasn’t that she _minded_ reading, really - she’d spent most of her last few years at Hogwarts devouring every book they had on the subject of magical creatures - but when she was in the company of people who actually had extensive field experience, it seemed stupid to read about these things. She could read _any_ time.

On the bright side, though, the illustrations were very detailed.

Her cousin and Dedworth took pity on her after lunch and started talking to her about Erklings and other creatures that more habitually went through Hogsmeade. They really weren’t telling her much that she couldn’t have found in the book, but somehow, it was significantly more interesting when someone was telling the story.


	10. Scorpius. --- An Inauspicious Start.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius's first few days on the first floor are not exactly a walk in the park.

It was a relief when Scorpius was finally finished his rotation on the third floor and moved down to the first. While talking first to James and then to Rose about the lunch that Sunday had made him feel much better about it, he still welcomed the distraction. As importantly, though, he and Rose hadn’t talked about his specific career aspirations since he’d spoken to his father about it, but he knew it was still on her mind. He felt like a lot of the conflict would be pretty thoroughly mediated if she felt like he was coming at this from a more rational state of mind.

Thus far, Scorpius had managed to stop himself from pointing out that it was a little rich for _Rose_ to be expecting rationality from anyone.

His optimism started to dissipate about two minutes after he’d sat down with Esme Banister, the Healer who supervised the entire floor, to discuss his education, experience, and demonstrated strengths and weaknesses.

Banister, whose sharp features and thick black hair pulled back tightly in a no-nonsense bun, came off as a little intimidating even before she opened her mouth. Once she did, things went from bad to worse - her voice was significantly more clipped than those of the Healers supervising the other three floors as she asked him quick, pointed questions that seemed to be aimed more at disqualifying him that getting at anything else. Despite his mounting irritation, however, Scorpius managed to keep his tone polite and respectful. He was nothing if not a pragmatist, after all, and he knew that rising to the bait wouldn’t get him what he wanted.

Even if, by the end of the conversation, he would have loved to.

He briefly entertained the idea that her dislike was personal, but when he met Sawyer and Rebecca for lunch, they confirmed that they’d gotten the same treatment earlier that morning. Rebecca, who had been a fellow Slytherin at school, felt like she’d also managed to keep her composure, but Sawyer - who Scorpius had always felt was entirely too short-tempered for a proper Ravenclaw - had unfortunately been less successful.

“I know I should have just stayed calm,” he said morosely, pushing his food around his plate. He seemed to have no intention of eating it, which at this point was probably a good thing - the mush that was left looked exceedingly unappetizing. “But when she started in on how I really didn’t have much experience, I just kind of snapped.”

“What did you say?” Rebecca asked. Unlike Sawyer, she had not lost her appetite; she was shoveling food into her mouth with the same speed she always did.

Sawyer made a face and let his fork drop to the table. “I asked her how many people _did_ have the kind of experience she seems to want, and where she’d dug them up from. After I said that, she got really chilly - chillier, I mean - and told me that a Healer who can’t control his emotions is a liability that she doesn’t want on her floor. He wrinkled his nose. “I don’t want to be on her stupid floor anyway. I didn’t really want to work with creature injuries anyway, but with this bullshit? Screw it. I’ll get through residency and never speak to those assholes again.”

“You don’t know that they’re _all_ assholes,” Rebecca pointed out.

He made a face. “Yeah, well, their boss is, and I’m not signing up to work for someone like _that.”_

“What’s the deal with them, anyway?” Scorpius asked her. She’d been with the hospital for almost two years to their nine months, having completed a research residency before realizing that she really would prefer to deal with patients. Consequently, she sometimes had a better understanding of internal politics that either he or Sawyer did.

This time, however, she was as clueless as they were. “No idea,” she told him. “All I can think is that they don’t want anyone to slow them down.” She laughed. “As if we’d want to get into the mess their floor is dealing with, anyway - thanks, but I’ll skip the headache.”

Scorpius gave a noncommital shrug and changed the subject. He hadn’t actually told either of his friends that he was thinking very seriously about wading into the mess the first floor was dealing with, which was why he was feeling so thoroughly demoralized by their initial reception.

The next day was no better. Calla Wayne, one of the senior Healers on the floor, showed every indication of sticking him with all of the things he really wasn’t interested in for his long-term plans - which would have been fine, since that was a good part of what residency was, except that she gave absolutely no indication that he’d _ever_ be dealing with anything more complicated than minor pet injuries.

Under her very close supervision, he, Sawyer, and Rebecca spent the day in utter tedium that even Sawyer admitted had him longing for potions prep. First, they took turns examining people who had come in after being bitten or scratched by their pets: Scorpius’s charges were a six year old girl whose father admitted she’d been grabbing their kneazle’s tail all morning before it finally swatted at her, leaving several fairly shallow scratches on her arm, and a young man whose new crup-hybrid puppy had bitten him when he’d trodden on the poor creature’s tail.

The very best that could be said about these patients was that at least neither case seemed to involve an animal that was actually dangerous; Scorpius wasn’t an animal person in general, but he still hated to be part of removing a beloved family pet from a home, even when there were genuine safety concerns. Sawyer was not as lucky; the woman he examined had been very cagey about how she’d ended up with a deep bite on her arm, and when he looked up her name in the registry of St. Mungo’s patients, he found that her sister’s crup had injured people on three previous occasions, including a couple Muggle teenagers.

Still, when he stopped in to see Wayne at the end of the day on Tuesday, he made sure not to let his irritation show.

“Do you have a schedule drawn up yet?” he asked.

She glanced up from her sheaf of parchment. “Schedule?” Her voice was as clipped and irritated as Banister’s had been the day before.

“Yeah. You know, where I’m going to be, when I have to be here -”

“Oh. That.” She put the stack down and rested her arms on her desk as she leaned forward. “Just plan to be here from 9-5. I’ll tell you if that changes, but I don’t foresee that happening. As for where you’ll be on the floor…” She interlaced her fingers and shook her head. “To be honest, Mr. Malfoy, we’ll probably keep you right where you were today. It’s very busy here at the moment, and we don’t really have time to babysit residents who are going to spend three months here and then disappear to other floors. There’s too much to do.”

He clasped his hands behind his back, hoping she couldn’t see him digging his nails into his palms. “Well, I actually wasn’t sure I was going to disappear to another floor. I’d like to stay here.”

“Mm.” She glanced back at the paperwork she’d just set down. It could not have been more obvious that she felt that she had far better things to do with her time than talk to him. “You haven’t even had any experience on the floor, so I’m not sure what you’d be basing that on. This is a hard floor to work on. Trust me, you’ll be better off elsewhere. Now, if that’s all?”

His polite masked slipped. “Thanks ever so for your help.” He stalked out before she could reply.

He spent a long time considering his options that evening. He _could_ just give up on the first floor entirely, but he didn’t feel inclined to do that - it would be one thing for him to decide on his own that he didn’t really want to deal with creature injuries after all, but for someone else to decide it for him?

No. That was just unacceptable, and he wasn’t going to take it lying down - especially since he knew that their outright dismissal of him and his talents was stupid. He was _good_ at Healing, for a resident, and almost everyone liked him - he was _intentionally_ friendly and charming whenever he stepped through those doors, and he’d always been good at helping people along when he wanted to.

If he wasn’t willing to give up on the first floor entirely - and he was pretty sure that he wasn’t - he was going to have to do something to turn their animosity around soon. Sticking him with pet injuries for the next three months would definitely torpedo his chances of getting onto the floor even if they _did_ eventually change their minds. The only thing he could think was that Rebecca’s joke about not wanting to be slowed down had hit closer to the mark than she’d intended - he knew from Rose that there was a lot of improvising going on right now in the field because creatures that were rare in their parents’ adolescence had become far more problematic in recent years. It stood to reason that Healers were having to make similar adjustments.

Scorpius didn’t even consider consulting Deverill about the matter; it was all very well to have a mentor, but if you got in the habit of running to your mentor to solve every problem for you, no one was going to take you seriously.

He was just starting dinner when someone knocked on his door. “Scorpius!” he heard his best friend call through the door. “Rose isn’t there, right?”

“Nope!” he yelled back.

After a moment, the deadbolt slid back, and Albus burst in. Unlike Rose, he had no qualms about using the spell to unlock Scorpius’s front door, though after the first time he’d walked in to find Rose in the kitchen clad in only one of Scorpius’s shirts and her underwear, he generally made sure his cousin wasn’t there before he did.

The door slammed shut. Clearly, Albus was not in a much better mood than Scorpius himself.

“I’m in the kitchen!”

As soon as Albus entered the kitchen, he slouched into a chair and let his head fall to the table with a very loud groan. “I hate my life.”

“What happened?” Scorpius asked, glancing over at him. “Have you eaten?”

Albus’s head moved. Scorpius wasn’t sure whether it was a nod or a shake, but he decided to assume his friend needed food and pulled out another couple potatoes to skin.

“I hate training,” Albus said through his arm. “I _hate_ it. Training is the worst. Bridget is the worst. This whole fucking thing is _the worst.”_ He slammed his fist on the table.

Scorpius eyed him warily. His best friend could usually be counted upon to be kind, patient, and a little too wholesome - he swore so rarely that it was clear that something was seriously troubling him.

“What happened?” he repeated.

Albus finally picked his head up. His face was nearly as red as his hair. “Dad’s just… being so goddamn _hard_ on me just because he doesn’t want anyone to think he’s playing favorites. I told you he’d been making me practice my occlumency with Bridget, right?”

Scorpius nodded. He thought that it was probably one of the stupidest ideas he’d ever heard in his life, and he’d heard some pretty stupid ideas before.

“Well, it’s only Tuesday, and this week so far has been _the worst._ I saw her on Sunday and we had a good time, even with Rose stopping by - glad to hear your lunch went okay, by the way - but this week it’s been one question after another, and I’m _so damned sick of it._ Yes, I was a little awkward when I turned down dates in school. Yes, I’ve liked her since my fourth year. No, I’m not sure what I want from her, even _though_ I know I like her. Yes, it was a little weird for me when my two best friends started dating. For fuck’s sake, aren’t _any_ of my thoughts my own anymore?”

Now Albus’s ire was starting to make sense. “That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does. _Fuck._ I mean, I know I need to learn this shit, but isn’t there _anyone_ who can do it who I’m not fucking sleeping with?”

“I take it you asked?”

Albus’s scowl deepened. “Yeah. Dad told me that keeping her out should be good incentive and that I needed to learn how to ‘control my emotions.’ My father is the worst, too.” He let his head fell back onto the table.

Scorpius tossed the chopped potatoes into a pan and waved his wand over it. As the heat started to emanate from the counter, he jerked his head toward the door. “Come on. Let’s go sit in the living room, it’s going to get hot in here.”

Once they’d settled onto his couch, Scorpius sighed. “Is there anything I can do?” he asked.

Albus shook his head. “Nah. I don’t know - I just wish there was someone good at legilimency I could practice with on my own, so I could just learn it without all this…” His voice trailed off and he sighed. “Anyway. How are _you?”_

“Er - awful, now that you mention it.” Scorpius gave his friend a quick summary of his week thus far on the first floor. To his surprise, Albus was grinning by the end of it. “It’s really not funny,” Scorpius snapped.

Albus shrugged. “Yeah, Scorpius, it kind of is. You think they’re writing you off because they think you can’t handle the stress?”

“That’s about right, yeah.”

“So…” Albus spread his arms wide. _“Tell them about Rose._ I mean, for God’s sake, your girlfriend is in the D.C.B., your cousin Alec is in Dragon Research, _me_ and Johanna are in the Aurors, Noah’s in the Department of Mysteries… Scorpius, you’re not a naive kid with no concept of the real world. If you’re going to put yourself in a position where literally everyone you’re close to is in a dangerous profession, you should at least use it to your advantage.”

Scorpius considered that for a moment. Albus wasn’t wrong. “Maybe. But how on earth do you suggest I bring _that_ up?”

Albus shrugged. “You’re a lot more calculating than I am. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”


	11. Scorpius. --- The First Floor Clique.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius loses his cool at work.

Wednesday saw Scorpius once again occupied with minor pet injuries, some of which weren’t even remotely magical in nature. He was usually able to take tasks like this in stride - he knew that emergencies were the exception rather than the rule, even on the first floor, and glory-seekers tended to be disliked on principle because they tended to be pretty horrible coworkers.

But this was different, because he was pretty sure that they didn’t intend to let him near anything else, and the prospect of three months of nonstop mind-numbing work that mostly consisted of telling children to be nicer to their pets and adults to control their pets made him want to put his head under the Knight Bus. There were Healers who actually _liked_ this sort of thing - they were always hovering behind him, as though they didn’t trust him to do simple things like inspect a scratch and hand over a little ointment on his own.

The only consolation was that neither Sawyer nor Rebecca seemed to be making out any better, so at least it wasn’t personal.

He was surprisingly busy all morning and by the time he got done with his last patient, there definitely wasn’t time for a full lunch. Instead, he decided to grab a quick bite to eat in the first floor break room.

Two Healers were already in there, chatting about the upcoming weekend - they apparently had tickets to a Quidditch game.

“You know we’ll probably have to give them away, though,” Haruko Fukui was saying to Domhnall O’Donnell. She was a junior Healer with shining black hair and a very round face. “I heard that the D.C.B.’s got a lot on their hands right now, and you know how it is with _that_ lot.” She jerked her head toward the handful of rooms containing beds and tiny bathrooms with stand-up showers - it wasn’t unusual for Healers to be on duty for 24 or even 36 hours at a time, so they needed to have some place to take a quick nap. “We’ll be using those by next weekend, I’m sure.”

O’Donnell grinned. He was the other junior Healer on the first floor. Scorpius had initially been hopeful that they’d be more sympathetic to someone trying to break into their ranks, but if anything, they’d been even more hostile toward him than everyone else. “Probably,” he agreed. “What is it this time?”

That was the opening he needed. “Mountain trolls, a kelpie, and maybe an Erkling,” he said from his own table, which was close enough to them that his normal voice was perfectly audible. He was thanking his lucky stars that he’d spent several hours with James that weekend - he seemed to have a little bit more information about the department as a whole than Rose, at least for the moment, which Scorpius supposed made sense - Rose had only been assigned to a squad the previous week. 

They both stared at him for a minute, and then Fukui snorted. “Yeah, and how d’you know that?” she asked derisively. “Did Daddy’s Ministry _contacts_ drop a couple nuggets of information here and there?”

Well, if Fukui wasn’t alone in her scorn of Scorpius’s family - or, probably more accurately, his father’s money - that could also help explain some of the hostility he was getting from them. “No,” he snapped. “Why the hell would I need to get anything from my _’father’s contacts?’_ I hear plenty about it on my own.”

Phelan Mac Eanraig, a stocky brunet in his thirties who was just a few inches shorter than Scorpius himself, had entered the break room partway through his rant. “Do you now?” he asked cheerfully, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

Something about Mac Eanraig’s dismissive air irritated Scorpius even more than Fukui’s mocking. He thought that maybe he should be keeping his cool a _bit_ better than he was - he hadn’t intended to get quite so emotional - but at the same time, he wasn’t sure these people would respond to anything else.

And what did he have to lose, anyway?

“Well, since both my girlfriend and a good friend of mine work in the D.C.B. and I have a cousin in Dragon Research, yeah, I do.” He might be been exaggerating a little by calling James Potter a ‘good friend,’ but he was pretty sure that James was firmly in the category of ‘friend’ at this point, and the white lie did lend a little extra credence to what he was saying. “I’m not a shrinking violet. I know _plenty.”_

Now both Fukui and Mac Eanraig had dropped their devil-may-care attitudes and were studying him closely. Even O’Donnell looked interested despite himself.

“Your girlfriend?” Fukui said finally. “Or just the girl you hooked up with at the pub last weekend?”

Scorpius laughed. Unlike his normal laugh, the sound was jarringly harsh, but he let it happen. In the back of his mind, he could see that what he was saying was having an effect on them, and he suspected that tact wouldn’t get the job done. “You got me, Fukui. It’s really nothing too serious. I’ve only been seeing her since we were _fifteen.”_

She seemed unsure of what to say. Mac Eanraig’s eyebrows had risen slightly. “What’s your cousin’s name?” he asked.

“Alec Greengrass.”

_That_ made Fukui laugh, and the tension in the room lifted a little. “Oh, god. Isn’t that Johanna’s brother?” Scorpius nodded. “So you’re related to Johanna, too? You poor thing.”

“You know her?”

Fukui shook her head, though it appeared to be in amusement rather than as a direct response to his question. “Everyone who works here knows Johanna, even us. She’s a pain in the arse.”

Her smile belied her words, and Scorpius thanked his lucky stars that Johanna had a way with prickly people, probably because she was fairly prickly and snarky herself.

Mac Eanraig was still starting at him. “What about your girlfriend?” he asked. 

“She’s a Weasley. Rose Weasley. She’ll be starting fieldwork any day now, so I’m sure you’ll get to know her. Damn woman’s reckless enough.”

_That_ got an even stronger reaction. “Weasley? You close to any of her cousins?” Scorpius shrugged, and they seemed to take that as the yes it was intended to be. “Oh, Merlin. No one told us you ran with _that_ crowd.”

“Yeah, well, I do. I don’t have friends who don’t get way too much joy out of risking their necks. My best friend is also an Auror, another cousin is in the Department of Mysteries, and my other friends from school went into the D.C.B., dragon research, and cursebreaking.”

“What happened to you, then?”

The change in Fukui’s demeanor was startling; he still wasn’t sure that he’d quite call her friendly, but there was definitely the hint of a smile on her face, and she’d lost the mocking tone.

“Dunno,” he said. “I guess somebody has to patch them all up.”

Scorpius was just settling down to sleep that evening when he heard a tap on the window. He considered just ignoring it, but as the tapping continued, he groaned and shuffled over to the cool glass.

As soon as he pushed the window up, the owl swooped in. He retrieved the parchment attached to its leg and closed the window after it as it flew back out into the cool March air.

The note was short and to the point. He grinned as he read it - he wasn’t sure what the fallout from the day would be, but one thing was for sure: he’d definitely gotten their attention.

He immediately reported to Banister’s office when he got to work the following morning. Her owl had instructed him to arrive at 7:30 - which he found heartening, since it was a far cry from 9:00, which still didn’t feel like proper Healer hours to him - and he made sure he was there by 7:15. This time, he _did_ stop to chat with the witch at the front desk for a few minutes before reporting to the office.

He knocked at open door at 7:28, and Esme Banister looked up from a piece of parchment. “Come in,” she said shortly. “And close the door behind you.”

He did as she’d ordered and took a seat on the cold metal chair across from her. “What did you want me for?” he asked politely.

Her gaze was decidedly frosty. “Cut the nonsense,” she snapped. “You know why you’re here. You snapped at _three_ of my Healers yesterday.”

“Is that what they said?” he asked. “I thought we had a perfectly pleasant conversation.”

Banister’s eyes had narrowed to slits, but to his surprise, she didn’t dress him down for contradicting her. “You told them your girlfriend is in the D.C.B.”

“She is.”

“Why didn’t you mention it before now?”

“You didn’t ask. Deverill knows, I figured you did, too.”

“No. We didn’t.” She drummed her fingers on the desk a few times. “Do not snap at the Healers on this floor again.”

This time, he didn’t contradict her. “Understood.”

“That’s all. Leave now.”

He got up. She looked back down at the parchment, and he saw enough of it before she angled it away from his line of vision to see his name written across the top in elegant script. “I’m not supposed to be at the Loe Buckingham ward until nine. That’s still more than an hour away.”

She flicked her fingers in the direct of the door. “I’m sure you can find something to do. Find a different ward to observe in if you like - just _don’t_ get in anyone’s way.”

“Understood. Thank you.”

He backed out before she could say anything else. That had gone about as well as could be expected - she hadn’t banished him from the floor or suspended him, so if she was looking over anything with his name on it again, it probably meant that she was at least considering giving him something more exciting to do - and _that_ meant she might be open to keeping him around after this.

She’d essentially given him permission to wander, so he headed down the hall to the Diana Potter ward. You could pretty much always count on there being _some_ activity in there - the Bureau for Dragon Research and Restraint was both large and prone to getting injured, and new strains of dragonpox continued to be sporadically problematic, particularly in rural populations.

Sure enough, when he stuck his head in, he could see a woman sitting on a table through an open door to an examining room. Her shirt sleeve was rolled up; judging by the bloody bandage covering her arm, Dragon Research had tried to patch this up themselves before deeming it worthy of a trip to St. Mungo’s.

He couldn’t see her face, but even from the side, there was no mistaking that golden blond hair. It seemed like an enormous coincidence that she would be here right now, and he wondered if they were hazing him a little by allowing him to wander just now.

“Scorpius!” Fukui walked out of another room with Kerrie McTaggart. All he knew about McTaggart was that she specialized in burns, other open wounds, and infections resulting from either. “What are you doing here?”

He leaned against the doorframe. Fukui’s demeanor had not reverted to the mocking hostility she’d displayed before his outburst the day before, though he still didn’t exactly trust her, despite her pleasant tone.

“I had to come in early to see Banister,” he told them. “She told me to wander around and not get in anyone’s way.”

The two women exchanged a glance. After a moment, McTaggart jerked her head toward the room. “Well, come on, then. I’ll check to make sure she won’t mind, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem - she’s used to it.” She raised her voice. “Ms. Weasley?”

The blond woman looked over. As soon as she caught sight of Scorpius, she grinned. “Aw, is he starting his rotation here, then? Sure, he can come in and watch you dress this hideous burn, as long as he’s got a strong stomach - it smells awful.”

Scorpius entered the room behind the two Healers and smiled at the woman. “Hey, Dominique.”

“Morning!” she said cheerfully. “They treating you right down here?”

“Er -” The honest answer to the question was no, but Scorpius wasn’t sure it would be prudent to say it. She seemed to gather the basic gist, however, and gave the two women bending over her arm a reproachful look. They ignored her.

“You’re both terrible. Treat the boy right, okay? As a favor to me?”

She seemed completely genuine, and Scorpius was dumbfounded for a moment. He’d never really known Dominique all that well - she’d been several years above him in school - and even when he had spent time with her, he’d always gotten the sense that she thought Rose was wasting her time with him.

Fukui cleared her throat, and he hurried over to watch as they unwrapped the bandage. Dominique wasn’t wrong - it _did_ smell awful, and it looked even worse. Her upper arm was red, raw, and oozing blood and pus from the many blisters that had erupted across it. Toward her elbow, the skin had actually turned black. Despite her bravado, she winced when McTaggart leaned in close, as though she were already anticipating the intensified pain.

McTaggart got out her wand and sent Fukui for several potions and balms. Her glance at Scorpius indicated that he should follow her, and they left at a run.

“Why don’t we have it in there?” he asked as they grabbed several bottles off shelves in the first floor medicinal ward.

“Used the last of it yesterday on some other dragon researchers,” Fukui said breathlessly. “Grab that balm, over there. Yes, that. We’ve got some stuff in there still, of course, but nothing for a burn like _that._ Damn Dragon Research, they told us it was _minor._ We should have known better. Come on.” She hurried back out the door. “They should have sent her here immediately, I don’t know _what_ they were thinking.”

They got there and handed the potions over just as McTaggart was saying, “I don’t like the look of these - you’re staying here overnight. Really, Dominique, you should know better than to bandage this up yourself - why weren’t you in here _immediately?”_

Dominique shrugged with her good shoulder. She was clearly more focused on the water McTaggart was directing over the wound with her wand than anything the woman was saying.

McTaggart directed the water away from Dominique and into the sink as Fukui took the balm from Scorpius, hurried forward, and began to gently rub it into the burn. McTaggart jerked her head at Scorpius, who handed Dominique the small blue vial Fukui had shoved into his hand. “Take this,” he said. “All of it. It’ll help with the pain. We’ll give you something less strong when it wears off, but you need to be able to stand it when we examine it for infection.”

She unstoppered it, raised it in a toast, and downed it in a gulp. After a couple minutes, the color began to return to her cheeks, and she managed a shaky smile. “All right,” she said. “That’s better. Thanks, guys. Healers are the best.”

“Mm.” McTaggart swept out of the room. After a moment, Fukui followed her, leaving Scorpius alone with Dominique.

“How does it feel?” he asked her.

“Not great, but better.” She cocked her head to the side and studied him. “You really are going to be quite good at this, aren’t you?”

“Hopefully.”

“Good.” She slouched back against the wall. “I gave you the vote of support, by the way, because I think it’d be quite good to have a Healer in the family. Then I can get this stuff -” she gestured to the balm with her good hand - “without having to come in here.”

That _did_ sound like Dominique.

Before he could respond, though, she added, “Oh, and I had a date with your cousin Johanna over the weekend, and I have plans to see her tomorrow night that I’m probably going to have to reschedule.” She shot an annoyed look at her arm. “That helped, too.”

“Huh. I can see that, actually.”

She grinned. “Yeah, I thought you might.”

Fukui called to him from another room, and he left Dominique to her inspection of her arm. When he saw the clock, though, he stopped dead.

“What?” Fukui asked.

“I was supposed to at the Loe Buckingham Ward half an hour ago.” He made to turn, but she caught his sleeve.

“Stick around for a bit,” McTaggart told him. “They’ll have to do without you for awhile. Aren’t there other residents who can take care of it, anyway?”


	12. Rose. --- Field Work.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose's squad investigates a disappearance in Hogsmeade.

Rose had been hoping that they’d go check out the possible Erkling on Friday, but when no further reports emerged and they discovered that at least one had been fabricated by a very annoying ten year old boy who’d spent the year feeling resentful that his brother was a first year at Hogwarts when he had to wait until the coming September, they’d decided to pass it off to Magical Law Enforcement. Instead of checking out the Erkling, Victoire and Dedworth had spent Friday educating her on some of the creatures they _were_ more likely to encounter.

That was interesting, of course, but nowhere near as fun.

On the bright side, at least her weekend was thoroughly relaxing - she and Scorpius made the time to go out on a real dinner date, which was fun, and she spent most of Sunday with Lucy, who, for once, did not have to work.

The ‘education’ continued through the next week. On Monday, they talked about acromantulas. On Tuesday, they talked about kelpies. On Wednesday, to Rose’s delight, they talked about quintapeds - apparently, there really _were_ genuine concerns that they were making forays onto the mainland, though no one in the D.C.B. had caught them at it yet. When Rose got to work on Thursday, however, she knew something was up. The level of activity she could see immediately after walking into the office told her that something had changed.

“What’s going on?” she asked from the doorway.

They both looked over at her. Both Victoire and Dedworth were wearing dark trousers and shirts, and there were dark jackets slung over their chairs that she immediately recognized as being Ministry-issued - there was no point in getting your nice clothing destroyed on these sorts of assignments. Rose was glad that she’d happened to dress similarly that morning, and made a note to do so in the future whether or not she foresaw fieldwork for the day - or at least keep a couple changes of clothing at work for such an occasion. Victoire’s hair was also carefully pulled back from her face, so Rose hurriedly mimicked her.

“Remember those Erkling reports?” Rose nodded. “There might have been something to them after all. We got word half an hour ago that a woman disappeared from Hogsmeade overnight. We’ve got to move now. Are you up for it?”

“Of course.” Rose grabbed the jacket off the back of her chair and followed them down the hall. Dedworth knocked on Lavender Brown’s office and pushed the door open.

“Hey. We’re ready to go.”

Rose followed him into the office just in time to see Brown look up. She tried to distinguish some indication of what they were facing from it, but she quickly gave up: Brown’s face was so heavily scarred that Rose probably wouldn’t have even been able to distinguish if she was angry or elated.

Lavender Brown glanced over all of them, and her gaze landed on Rose. “Are you ready?” she asked.

It occurred to Rose that this was probably meant to be helpful and supportive - and it was, in a way. It was just also intimidating as hell.

“I think so.”

Brown made a face that could have either been a grimace or a smile. Then she jerked her head toward the large fireplace set along the far wall. The flames in it were flickering faintly, and a stand with a large jar of Floo powder stood right in front of it. “It’s set up for the rest of the day. If there’s a problem -”

“I’ll send word,” Dedworth finished for her. This was apparently a conversation that he knew well. “I know.”

Rose followed Victoire over to the fireplace, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dedworth lean in closer to Brown so she could say something to him in an undertone.

“There’s an office in Hogsmeade?” she asked Victoire, dragging her eyes away from the two of them. Openly staring at two of her three direct supervisors seemed like it should probably be avoided, especially since as far as she knew, if there was anything going on between the two of them it probably wasn’t public for a reason.

“Yes.” Her cousin leaned against the woodwork decorating the edges of the fireplace. “Didn’t you know?” Rose should her head, and Victoire face took on a bemused expression. “What are they teaching you, then, that takes four months?”

“Dueling.” Rose began the fiddle with her wand to have something to do other than glance toward the desk. “What spells you should cast against what creatures. Where the creatures come from and whether they’re common here. That sort of thing.”

Victoire shrugged. “Well, it’s certainly changed since my time.”

“What was it like when you joined?”

“Trial by fire.” Victoire called over to Dedworth before Rose could ask exactly what she meant. “Van, are we going or aren’t we?” Rose followed her cousin’s gaze just in time to see Dedworth squeeze Lavender Brown’s hand before crossing the room to meet them.

Rose looked away as he neared them. She hoped he hadn’t caught her staring. She couldn’t think of many conversations that would be more awkward than trying to come up an explanation that make her look like a gossip - or just plain creepy.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded again, and Victoire took a pinch of powder and threw it into the flames. They took on an emerald tinge and roared up as she stepped into the fireplace. “Hogsmeade, D.C.B. office.”

Then she was gone.

“You heard what she said?”

Rather than answer, Rose stepped forward to take some powder herself. She threw it into the fire, which had not yet subsided from her cousin’s Floo powder, and stepped into the fireplace. The warmth from the eerie magical flames enveloped her, and she closed her eyes. “Hogsmeade, D.C.B. office,” she repeated clearly.

She felt a slightly unpleasant lurch in her stomach, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Victoire leaning over a desk in a small, dimly-lit room. Rose stumbled out of the fireplace and slumped against the wall. Floo powder had always been her least favourite way to travel. It was also exceedingly convenient, so she tried to deal with her distaste for it, but given the choice, she would have been happy to never have to deal with Floo powder again.

“Why couldn’t we just Apparate?” she asked Victoire as the flames in the fireplace turned green again and Dedworth stepped out.

“You haven’t been here before, so you couldn’t have Apparated here yourself,” Victoire said without looking up. “And anyway, Floo is more convenient. You can’t Apparate directly from our floor, you know that.”

Rose stopped herself from responding; her cousin had been a little curt in her answer, but the last thing she wanted was for Victoire - who had gone out of her way to get Rose put with her this year - to feel like she needed to wear kid gloves around Rose because she was too sensitive. Rose didn’t like coming across that way, anyway, and she knew that Victoire had no patience for it.

“So why is there a D.C.B. office in Hogsmeade, anyway?”

Dedworth answered her first. “Well, you know the Forbidden Forest?” When she answered in the affirmative, he grinned. “There’s a reason it’s forbidden, you know.”

“Really?”

Victoire snorted as she folded up the piece of paper she’d been examining and pocketed it. “No, not really. The Forbidden Forest is part of it, but the bigger issue is that magical creatures are attracted to magic. Hogsmeade and Hogwarts are both full of magic. We end up here a lot more than you’d think - or than you heard about when you were a student, I’m betting.”

Rose glanced around the room again. It was dark, and it had a dingy, downtrodden feel to it. The lone desk and rickety old chair sitting next to it indicated that it wasn’t used very often, especially since the desk appeared to be covered in a layer of dust.

“Where are we?”

Now her cousin managed to crack a smile. “Guess.”

“Er -” Rose glanced toward the small window. She couldn’t really get a decent glimpse of the outside around the side of the building from her position, but the large crack in it tugged at her memory. “Hold on, is this the Shrieking Shack?”

“Yep.” Dedworth cocked his head to the side. “Any more questions?”

The offer seemed to be genuine, so after a moment of hesitation, Rose decided to ask about the other thing that had been bothering her.

“I was wondering something.” He raised his eyebrows when she paused and motioned for her to continue. “If the woman disappeared last night, is she even likely to still be alive?”

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “Not a pleasant question.”

“No,” she agreed. “It isn’t, is it?”

Dedworth looked back at her. “It depends. If she left of her own volition - it’s possible, apparently she was having a secret affair with the clerk in Honeydukes - sure, absolutely. We don’t _think_ it was a dark wizard - there aren’t any reports of them operating in this area. If by any chance it is, though - we’re wrong occasionally - we probably won’t find her at all.” Rose shivered; she remembered stories she’d heard from her parents, aunts, and uncles about bodies being transfigured into bones and buried so as to leave no trace. “And if it _was_ an Erkling - which we think it probably was - honestly, Rose, probably not. They tend not to let their prey live for very long, especially not when they’ve been cheated out of children.”

“Oh.” Both Dedworth and Victoire were scrutinising her; they appeared to be wondering whether she was about to lose her nerve.

But Rose Weasley was made of much stronger stuff than that.

“Well, then, what are we waiting for?”

The exited through a door that Victoire carefully closed behind them. When Rose glanced back, however, all she could she was a solid wall with a stationary old portrait with chipped paint on it.

She followed Victoire and Dedworth down the stairs, and before leaving the shack, they all cast Disillusionment Charms on themselves. As soon as they’d cleared the area surrounding the shack, however, both the senior D.C.B. members lifted theirs, and Rose followed suit. “Why -”

“Well, if one of us gets attacked, we want to know it, don’t we?”

“Oh.” Rose followed them as they made their way toward the forest that still shrouded the outskirts of Hogsmeade in a creepy sort of aura. She had a brief moment of wondering why they ever allowed students out if Hogsmeade could be so dangerous, but by the time they reached the house the woman had disappeared from, her confusion had vanished. No student had come this way on a Hogsmeade visit - she was sure of that. And if magical creatures ever stalked Hogsmeade, she couldn’t imagine why they would go into the center of the town to do it if there were these more isolated outskirts to take advantage of.

Dedworth glanced into the forest and then turned to them and lowered his voice. “All right. Magical Law Enforcement’s big problem is that they don’t know how how to be quiet,” he said in an undertone. “Not quiet enough to surprise an Erkling, at any rate. So in the forest, you need to avoid making noise.” Rose nodded to show the she understood, and he glanced at Victoire. “You know the drill. Stay within shouting distance.”

“What about me?” Rose asked.

“You stay with three metres of me at all times.”

Unfortunately, it appeared that Dedworth was going to take this training thing pretty seriously. She agreed without complaint, though - she didn’t want to get a reputation for wasting time.

They headed into the forest, and she made sure she stuck near him. James had ignored that directive on his second time in the field the year before, and he’d been benched for almost a month and subjected to a long lecture.

While it had gotten warmer in the last few weeks, there was still a thin layer of snow on the ground, and the trees were still mostly bare, though the bushes had become to fill out. That made it much easier to see their surroundings, though the bushes did make Rose a little nervous.

The lack of leaves littering the ground _did_ easier to step softly, so Rose tried to concentrate on the sounds of the forest. It was eerily quiet, but she was having a hard time distinguishing anything from the rustling of the trees in the light breeze sweeping through the forest.

They hadn’t even been picking their way through the thick of trees for ten minutes when Dedworth held up his hand. She stopped immediately, and he jerked his head toward the right. She followed his gaze, and through the sunlight filtering through the trees, she saw a short and exceedingly ugly creature with veins that popped out from beneath its dark green skin even from this distance. It was bending over a body, and after a moment, it seemed to sense their presence, because it looked up and from beneath a bloody muzzle, it bared its long, serrated teeth.  


	13. Rose. --- The Erkling.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose finds a woman's life literally in her hands.

Rose raised her wand, but Dedworth was faster.

“Stupefy!”

The creature let out a shrill squeal and dodged away from the jet of red light, which set off sparks when it hit a tree trunk. The creature turned and began running on all fours toward the woods, and Dedworth took after it.

Rose was following him when he yelled, “Check her!” He waved his free hand vaguely toward the body on the ground as he sped into the trees. She heard him calling out to her cousin as she came to a stop beside the body - apparently, the three metre rule was no longer in effect.

She looked down at the person lying on the ground and felt a chill run down her spine. Rose was no stranger to monsters, but she’d never been this close to someone who’d been ravaged by one before, at least not before they’d been patched up some in St. Mungo’s.

The body belonged to a young woman - she probably wasn’t much older than Victoire. Her face was oddly untouched other than a few small scratches and some dirt, but the rest of her body was a mess. There were rips and holes in her dress that Rose somehow suspected hadn’t been there before she’d ventured out into the forest, and judging by the sharp, violent little incisions crisscrossing the skin visible beneath them and the blood seeping into the ground around her, they’d interrupted the Erkling in the middle of a feast.

Rose couldn’t help but wonder what it had done to lure the woman into the forest.

She knelt down and mechanically put two fingers on the woman’s neck. With the obvious severity of the injuries, she wasn’t really expecting much, and she was just pulling her hand away again when she thought she felt a faint beat.

Keeping an eye out for the Erkling’s return - or some other magical beast that smelled an easy meal - she doubled her attention as she pressed her fingers back.

This time, she was sure of it - that was a heartbeat.

She glanced toward the forest. She could faintly hear Dedworth and Victoire yelling, but she couldn’t quite make out their words. She considered calling out as loud as she could - when she was really trying, Rose’s voice could definitely travel - but she didn’t want to risk distracting them. Erklings weren’t the worst of the worst, but still, they shouldn’t be taken lightly - the Ministry rated them as XXXX, and she knew that they could do quite as much damage as a manticore when they set their minds to it... or when someone underestimated them.

The evidence was right in front of her.

The woman’s heart gave a very faint throb again, and Rose rocked back on her heels. If only she had Scorpius here. He would know what to do.

He might still be in training, but he was good at what he did - really good. Between his Outstandings in his N.E.W.T.s in Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Medical Magic, and Potions and his generally cool-headed demeanor even in the face of a real crisis, St. Mungo’s had been ecstatic to take him on. If he was here, he’d probably have the woman stable (if not completely healed) within a few minutes.

Unfortunately, the woman didn’t have Scorpius. She had Rose, and Rose was not very good at saving people. She was good at fighting, not healing, and she felt helpless in the face of the injuries that this woman had sustained.

“Damnit.” Rose stood and took a step back, trying to recall everything from the Medical Magic N.E.W.T. class Scorpius had all but begged and bribed her to take. Rose had tried to pay attention. She really had. However, the subject hadn’t come naturally to her, and over the two years they took it, she’d often found herself getting distracted by his eyes or his smile or thinking about what his hands could be doing to her instead of performing complex spells or...

If he was here...

But he wasn’t, and the blood was still seeping steadily out of the woman’s wounds. She didn’t have a lot of time.

From the squeals that had started to echo out of the forest, Victoire and Dedworth had tracked the Erkling and were currently fighting it. She definitely didn’t want to risk distracting one of them, though she wasn’t particularly confident about her ability to cast Healing spells; she’d been lucky to scrape an E in Medical Magic.

At this point, though, Rose was more than a little worried that if she didn’t do something now the woman wouldn’t last to get real help.

She heard a crack in the bushes behind her, but when she spun around, she didn’t see anything there. This was not entirely comforting to her: if a rabbit had hopped out from behind the tree or a bird had taken flight, she would have known what had caused the sound.

As it stood, she didn’t know, but she couldn’t leave the woman to go investigate. It could be nothing. It could be a trap. Hell, even if it was nothing, there might be some other creature, quietly waiting in the woods for an opportune moment. Rose didn’t know all the things that lurked in the forest off Hogsmeade, but the woman had lost so much blood that anything with a halfway decent sense of smell would be flocking to this area. From the cracks and the shrill screaming she could hear in the distance, Victoire and Dedworth still had the Erkling occupied. She briefly wondered why they hadn’t killed or stunned it yet, but while it seemed like an eternity had passed since she realised that the woman was alive and that she needed to do something now, it was probably only a couple minutes.

Rose shuffled around the body so she was facing the direction of the forest. It was too shrouded in shadows for her to see if there was anything peering out at her, but at least this way if there was she wouldn’t be taken unaware.

She sighed and steeled herself before leaning down and pointed her wand at what looked like one of the worst of the woman’s many wounds. “Sanores,” she whispered, and the flesh immediately started to come back together. It stopped about two-thirds of the way there, which wasn’t ideal, but at least the spell had worked.

Sort of.

That turned out to be her best effort; she ended up needing several tries each to close up the major wounds most of the way, and she had no luck in stopping the blood that still leaked out from several, though at least the wounds it was leaking out of were smaller and it was flowing more slowly.

The noises from Victoire and Dedworth’s battle with the Erkling had died down, and Rose hoped it meant they were on their way back - she was completely out of her depth.

There was another crack from the bushes from behind her, and she spun around. At this point she was clenching her wand so tightly that her knuckles were white.

She was so focused on the part of the woods she’d heard the crack from that she didn’t process the footsteps behind her until she heard a rip and felt a sharp pain blossom across her back. She spun around just as a stunner hit what looked like a smaller Erkling in the head. It fell against her back with a thud, and she winced as the pain from the scratches intensified. When she jerked her head around, she saw Dedworth standing about ten metres away. His wand was outstretched, but he looked calm and in control.

“I -” Rose started, though she had no idea what she was going to say.

“I’d be a pretty poor leader if I let you get seriously hurt on your first real field assignment, wouldn’t I?” He jerked his head toward the woman lying on the ground as Victoire emerged from the trees hauling the prone body of the Erkling they’d been chasing over her shoulder. “What’s this?”

Rose looked back at the woman. She’d been momentarily distracted, but now it was rushing back. “She’s alive. She needs help.”

Dedworth didn’t quite run toward them, but he was at kneeling at her side in a matter of seconds and pressing his fingers to the woman’s neck. “Was she conscious when you stopped?” Rose shook her head. “I take it her wounds were bigger than this when we got here?”

“Yes. I - I tried to make them smaller, but I didn’t do a very good job.”

“You did fine.” He looked up at Victoire, who had just tossed the Erkling she’d had onto a pile with the other one. “Vic, we need to take her in _now.”_

“I’ll stay.” Victoire brushed a few stray hairs back from her face and rubbed the back of her neck. “Somebody needs to watch these things until they can be collected, and I don’t fancy leaving Rosie to it.”

“Right.” Dedworth looked up at Rose. “Grab onto me. I’m going to use the Portkey.”

Rose grabbed onto his shoulder as he pulled a small bottle engraved with the words “St. Mungo’s” in gold letters. She couldn’t see the cork, but she knew that the letters “D.C.B.” were etched into the top.

Ministry divisions that frequently had to deal with injuries - either in civilians or among their own ranks - were all required to carry at least one of these little bottles per group every time they went out in the field, for occasions just like this.

Dedworth pulled the cork out and grabbed hold of the woman’s shoulder, and Rose closed her eyes. She didn’t mind traveling by Portkey as much as she minded Floo powder, but it did tend to leave her a little disoriented if she didn’t close her eyes. She felt the familiar twinge in her stomach, and when the sounds of the eerie quiet of the forest had been replaced by a low murmur of voices, she opened her eyes again.

They were in a quiet, isolated room. The shelves lining the adjacent wall were filled with a large variety of potions, and a large sign on the opposing wall said, Welcome to St. Mungo’s Emergency Ward for the Ministry of Magic. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Dedworth was already up and calling out to the Mediwitch sitting at a desk to the left of the door. Before Rose could process what he was saying, the witch tapped the hourglass sitting on the desk with her wand and hurried over to where the victim was still lying motionless on the cool wooden floor.

“Do you know anything about her?” the witch asked as she knelt down and waved her wand over the woman.

A silvery blue mist descended over them as Dedworth answered, “Victim of an Erkling attack. We found her near Hogsmeade. That’s all I know.”

The Mediwitch nodded and waved her wand again. The mist vanished. Rose had no idea what she’d learned from the spell, but when two more Healers rushed through the door next to the desk a moment later, she looked decisive when she gave them a quick summary of the woman’s condition. The Healers immediately carted her through a door that seemed to appear out of nowhere next to the sign on the wall, and Rose sagged against the wall with relief. She liked being responsible for killing things, not saving people.

“Is she going to be okay?”

The Mediwitch finished vanishing the blood off her robes and looked over at Rose. “We’ll see.”

Rose did not find this exactly comforting, but Dedworth nudged her before she could decide whether she wanted to press the witch further. “They never like to commit to an answer. Don’t waste your time.”

“Oh.” She let herself slide down the wall. “Now we wait?”

He joined her on the floor and cracked his neck. Rose managed to stop herself from wincing, though just barely - the sound of people cracking their body parts had always made her twitch. “Now we wait,” he agreed. “I do, anyway. If you’d like to go home, you can.”

Rose stared at him. “And not know what happened and whether she’s okay?”

A small smile spread across his lips. “That’s what I thought.” He glanced over at the door the woman had been taken through. “If she makes it, though, you don’t have to stick around for the interview.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I’d like to.”

Dedworth cleared his throat. “All right, what I meant was that you shouldn’t stick around for the interview.” Rose’s initial confusion almost immediately turned into shame and unhappiness - she knew she hadn’t done well. He must have read it on her face, because he hurried to add, “No, Rose, that’s not what I meant. When someone’s been through an attack, the fewer people there are talking to them the better, and you’re not experienced enough yet to ask the right questions.”

Rose looked down at her knees. Whatever he said, she couldn’t help but feel like she should have done a better job. Before the guilt overwhelmed her, she said, “I’m sorry I didn’t do better.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but thankfully, he heard it. She wasn’t sure whether she could have repeated it.

“What are you talking about?” She didn’t lift her gaze from her knees, and out of the corner of her eye she could see him scrutinising her. “Rose, you did a great job.”

“I’m not very good at Healing spells. I should have practised more. I just didn’t think...” She trailed off. “I’m sorry.”

Dedworth snorted and let his head fall back against the wall. “Most of us aren’t very good at those. Maybe the department _should_ make Medical Magic a required N.E.W.T. for joining the D.C.B., but…” He shrugged. “Look, Rose, you did what you were supposed to do. You listened to me and knew what I wanted you to do without my having to spell it out. You assessed the situation and came up with a solution. You implemented it as well as you could.” He shrugged. “Nobody expects you to be a Healer. If she survives, it’s thanks to you. If not, it’s not your fault. Okay?”

She nodded tentatively.

“Rose, you did a good job. I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.”

Rose finally dragged her eyes up to meet his. “Thanks.” She glanced up at the Mediwitch, who was back at her desk and seemed to be ignoring them. She had the air of someone who was quite accustomed to having people in dire need of medical assistance appear out of nowhere. “Was she the one who was reported missing? The woman from the forest, I mean?”

“We won’t know until we talk to her or do some more investigating. Seamus’ll have people scanning the area and talking to neighbors in the next hour. I have my doubts, actually, but we’ll see.” He frowned at her. “Actually - how’s your back? Should we have someone take a look at it?”

Rose shook her head. In reality, it was stinging quite a bit, but it realy wasn’t _that_ bad, and she wasn’t about to look like a weakling. She’d have Scorpius fix it later.

She and Dedworth continued to talk on and off for the next few hours, during which Rose discovered that Dedworth really wasn’t as intimidating as she’d initially felt. She might even start feeling like she could call him Van.

Eventually.


	14. Scorpius. --- Disturbing Injuries.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius is pulled off his assigned ward for something a little more interesting.

Scorpius got to work at 7:00 on Thursday morning, he wascompletely unaware of what his girlfriend would be walking into in just a few short hours. If he’d known, he would have been a little anxious, but as it was, he was feeling downright pleased with himself. He didn’t think he’d quite broken into the first floor club yet, but he’d made significant progress over the last week.

He’d ended spending over two additional hours with Fukui and McTaggart in the Diana Potter Ward rather than report to the Loe Buckingham Ward at 9:00 on Thursday morning, and they’d pulled him off of it again just after lunch Friday to watch Dominique’s exit examination and help them restock the Ward.

They’d actually seemed to be starting to like him, and Dominique’s vote of confidence - which she’d reiterated before they released her - probably hadn’t hurt his cause. And, as a bonus, Dominique’s mention of Johanna (and really, it was _just_ like Johanna to decide to date a Weasley after giving him hell about it for years) had given him the idea to ask his cousin about Albus’s occlumency problem when he got a chance.

Of course, Sawyer and Rebecca had both been noticeably irritated on Thursday morning, and had only let go of their frustration when he’d told them that Rose’s cousin had been admitted for an overnight with a nasty burn. While that was _true,_ Dominique hadn’t made any particular request that he be there, so using her as an excuse was certainly skirting around the truth a little. They’d looked a little more irritated on Friday when he’d left, though by Monday, they seemed to have either forgiven him or forgotten about it.

Their patience was clearly starting to run thin, though, in the face of what was really starting to look like blanket favoritism. Mac Eanraig and another senior Healer named Mei Li, who specialized in deep, non-poisonous wounds, had commandered him all morning Monday and in the afternoon on Tuesday to help them treat a couple hikers who’d walked straight into a couple forest trolls. And, the day before, McTaggart and Fukui had grabbed him again just _before_ lunch to watch them treat another burn victim from Dragon Research named Meaghan O’Shea. Meaghan, at least, was someone he’d met before - she was a friend of his cousin Alec’s - and her burn was nowhere near as severe as Dominique’s had been.

From the looks Sawyer and Rebecca had been shooting him Wednesday morning, he was glad he’d been able to dodge the discussion he knew was coming. It was inevitable; at this point, it was painfully obvious that the first floor Healers were engaging in some very clear favoritism - but he was sincerely hoping to forestall the conflict for as long as possible. It was the last thing he needed while he was still trying to break into the first floors’ ranks.

His fellow residents both treated him coldly throughout Thursday morning, too, especially since he was late again - this time he’d come in several hours early to help Mac Eanraig and Li work on brewing potions intended to counteract acromantula venom. Just like Fukui and McTaggart, they’d essentially given him permission to ignore his official assignment. While in this case he’d only been about fifteen minutes late, the glares Rebecca and Sawyer shot him when O’Donnell rushed in just after 11:00 to yank him out again promised trouble sooner rather than later.

“What’s going on?” Scorpius asked the sandy-haired man as they trotted down the hall at a brisk pace.

“The D.C.B. just brought a woman in,” O’Donnell told him as they turned down a short stairwell. “She might not make it - she’s in pretty bad shape. McTaggart said to get you and let you help out if you wanted to. I assumed you’d want to.”

“Of course I do!” Scorpius followed the other man through another door, and found an appalling site before him.

The woman, who was lying topless and on her stomach on one of their examining room tables, looked awful. There were large strips of flesh either hanging loosely from her back or missing altogether, and the deep gashes in her side were jagged and uneven. The wounds bled sluggishly, though not quite as much as Scorpius would have expected, given the extent of her injuries, and her arms hung limply over the sides of the table. There was even a bloody patch on her scalp - Scorpius couldn’t see it properly through her hair, but it looked like she’d probably fallen and hit her head on something.

“There are wounds on her front, too,” McTaggart told them. “But they’ve been healed enough that I’m not too worried about them - these are more immediate.”

They got down to work. It was long, grueling work, too - the wounds needed to be cleaned gently with water and then covered in a very thick layer of balm that was designed to both stop bleeding and draw any contamination from the creature’s fingers or mouth out of the wound. Without it, wounds like this often festered, which required more invasive treatment that often caused more long-lasting effects - when it was even successful at all. It wasn’t always; sometimes, the patient just died.

The only bright side to all of this was that Erklings, while disgusting, vicious, and frequently carrying contagions, were _not_ actually poisonous other than a mild disabling venom that knocked their victims unconscious for short periods of time. Other dangerous magical creatures like acromantulas were a different story; _their_ venom required far more dangerous treatments.

While Scorpius and O’Donnell applied the balm to the woman’s back, McTaggart began to examine the gashes in her side. Those were a different matter, and considerably more worrying - they would be harder to clean out because the wounds were much deeper, and they had to be careful not to push any dirt, poison, or contagion further into her body or, worse yet, into her blood stream.

By the time McTaggart had finished cleaning them properly, the woman’s back was covered in balm. The bleeding had all but stopped, though there was nothing the balm could do about the ruined flesh spread across the woman’s back. They’d be able to use some charms to shrink the wounds, particularly where the skin was only jaggedly cut rather than missing entirely, but if she survived, she was in for a very painful recovery process.

McTaggart and O’Donnell used their wands to repair torn muscle and flesh within the gashes as best they could; while the holes were still deep when they finally straightened up, sweat dripping off their foreheads, they were significantly less gaping than they had been. Scorpius wordlessly handed them each a jar of another potion, this one thickly blended and intended to be rubbed into and around the deep wounds to facilitate healing and prevent further infection.

That done, they gently scraped the balm on the woman’s back off and began to point their wands at each individual gash, taking care not to actually touch them. Scorpius left the jagged pieces of flesh to the more experienced Healers and focused on the numerous scrapes and shallow cuts that also dotted her back. When he finished that, he moved onto her head, where the wound was mercifully more minor than he’d anticipated - there was no skull fracture beneath it, and after he’d cleaned it and applied more balm to the area, the bleeding stopped completely.

When McTaggart and O’Donnell finished with her back, it looked much better than it had, though it was still red, inflamed, and covered in small tears. There was a limit, unfortunately, to how much Healers could do - healing a person required energy from them, but it required a great deal of energy from the patient as well, and when someone was in such bad condition, pulling too much from them could kill them just as easily as the wounds themselves.

They had to flip her over - there was no way around it. Her back was still so damaged, however, that there was real concern about what putting any pressure on it would do. In the end, Scorpius ended up levitating her just above the table while McTaggart and O’Donnell worked on the half-healed cuts. Scorpius got a good look at them - they were decent work for someone who wasn’t a Healer, and he had a strong suspicion about who had performed them.

When they were done, McTaggart pointed her wand at a clock on the wall and whispered something. After a minute, Calla Wayne swept in with Mac Eanraig. “Status?” she asked.

“Stable. Be careful of her back, and she should have a private room.”

Wayne nodded, and she and Mac Eanraig took the woman out through a small door on the other side of the room.

Once they’d left, McTaggart sagged against the wall, looking drained and a little pale. “Well, she’ll make it,” she said. “Didn’t think we’d manage to save her when Dom and I brought her in here, so good work, both of you.”

Scorpius felt warmth spread through his body, at both the good news and the older woman’s praise. “Thanks,” he said. “Do we know what happened?”

McTaggart shook her head. “All we were told was Erkling attack. Honestly, she owes her life to someone in that squad as much as to us - that rudimentary healing we saw was done in the field by one of them. Not sure who, though - I know Van’s hopeless at healing spells, and he’s the one who brought her in.”

“There was a new girl with him,” O’Donnell said. He was perched on a stool, and also looked absolutely exhausted. “Not his usual partner, I mean. Might have been her.”

Scorpius fought the urge to smile with difficulty. He’d _thought_ that he recognized the healing as Rose’s handiwork.

“Huh.” McTaggart looked intrigued. “I didn’t even notice. What’d she look like?”

“Red hair. Young. Really young - like she could still be in school, even.” Something hit him, and he glanced over at Scorpius. “Wait, is _that_ your girl?”

Now Scorpius couldn’t hold back a small smile. “Yeah,” he said. He could hear the smugness in his voice, but he didn’t care. “Thought I recognized the spellwork.”

“Wow. Pretty talented, isn’t she? And - well, don’t take this the wrong way, but…” He let out a low whistle. “She looked pretty damn hot under that blood and dirt. Lucky you.”

“Yeah,” Scorpius agreed. “Lucky me.” He meant it, too - Rose was sometimes the most maddening person he knew, but he’d always sort of admired her, and once they’d started going out, he’d quickly started to downright adore her. He was pretty sure that there wasn’t anyone he could have quite the same fire with that he did with Rose Weasley, which was why he was so damned invested in making it work.

McTaggart had been watching the exchange with some amusement. Now she said, “Scorpius, why don’t you get cleaned up a little and bring them the good news?”

He stared at her. “I - sure. Are you sure you don’t want to?”

She shook her head. “No, go ahead. Actually…” She glanced up at the clock. “Why don’t you take her home? I’m sure Van will be sending her there as soon as they get the news, that’s D.C.B. policy.”

“But it’s only 3:30.”

She shrugged. “Go ahead. I’ll drop into Buckingham and tell them you won’t be back in today.”

“Oh, Rebecca and Sawyer will _love_ that,” Scorpius muttered before he realized what he was saying. To his relief, however, both Healers just laughed, and McTaggart made a shooing gesture with her hand before turning back to O’Donnell.

It didn’t appear to be a punishment, so Scorpius didn’t bother to argue further. If he was being honest with himself, he couldn’t wait to see Rose - he wanted to congratulate her on a job very well done and hold her to convince himself that she really was okay.


	15. Rose. --- The Perks of Dating a Healer.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose spends some time with her very favorite Healer.

Rose had been sitting in the waiting room with Van for about four hours when the door finally opened. To her surprise, the man who stepped through was someone that she knew very, very well.

Before she could think about the blood on her clothing or whether doing so would be slightly unprofessional, she scrambled forward and threw her arms around him. “Scorpius!”

He didn’t appear to care about the blood or looking unprofessional, either, because he returned the hug with equal fervour. “Hey, sweetheart. I heard you did a good job today.”

“That’s what they tell me, but I think they’re just trying to make me feel better.”

He cleared his throat. “All right, let me try that again. You _did_ do a good job today. I was in there helping them work on her. She should make it. McTaggart says that your Healing probably saved her life.”

“How did you know it was mine?”

He fixed her with a look. “Right, like I can’t recognize your spellwork?”

She smiled despite herself and surveyed him again. His hair was damp, and she could see that his neck was glistening with sweat as well. He didn’t look particularly pale, but Scorpius was so pale on his own that she wasn’t entirely sure it would be noticeable even if he was.

She hugged him again. If Dedworth wanted to judge her, he could.

Scorpius returned the hug before leaning around to address Dedworth himself. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Scorpius.”

“I gathered,” the older man said, looking amused. “Is she awake?”

Scorpius shook his head. “Not for awhile yet, probably.”

Dedworth sighed. “Well, it won’t be the first time I’ve spent a solid day and night in St. Mungo’s. Get going, Rose - you did a great job today. Vic’ll be here soon. She’s probably just been briefing Seamus and showing them the site where it happened.”

Rose hesitated.

“I’m serious. That’s an order. Or something.” Though his tone was jovial, his expression made it clear that he was serious.

Scorpius looked down at her. “Well, I’m done for the day,” he said. “I can take you home, if you like.”

“You’re _done?”_

“I’m done,” he confirmed. “I started really early today, and I didn’t eat lunch - we’ve been working on that woman since you got here - so McTaggart told me to take my girlfriend home.”

Rose looked over at Dedworth. Suddenly all of her hesitance had melted away. “I’ll - er - I’ll just go home, then.”

He snorted. “Have fun.”

She suggested stopping to get something to eat before they went back to Scorpius’s place, but he pointed out that the blood on her clothing probably wouldn’t be well-received. He also seemed to be covered in sweat, though he’d at least changed his clothes once he’d finished helping the other Healers with the woman. He told her to take the shower first, and though the hot water on her back stung, it was very nice to get clean.

She hadn’t finished dressing by the time he got out, so when he walked into his bedroom, her back was still clearly visible. Once he realized that she’d been hurt, albeit just a little, he insisted on cleaning the wound more thoroughly and then led her back to his bed.

He was still half naked, which Rose found very distracting. When she tried to lean in for a kiss, however, he moved his knee up to block her. “Come on, lay on your stomach.” He clearly noticed her reluctance as she turned around, because he caught her arms and brushed his lips against the side of her neck. “It’ll only take a minute,” he said. His voice was low, and something in his tone sent a pleasurable shudder through her body.

He pulled off her shirt before coaxing her into laying down, and once she was there, she rested her head on her hands and turned it toward him. “What’s it look like?”

Scorpius ran his hands up her lower back. His touch was as a light as a feather. “Not terrible. Just a few scratches and a really nasty bruise.”

“Oh, is that all?” She made to get up. “I’ll be fine.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her down again. “Yeah, you will be, especially now that I’ve cleaned it, but it might be a little inconvenient tonight if I don’t put something on it.”

Rose felt a smile creep across her face. “Oh, so you don’t want to think about avoiding my battle wounds?”

“Not particularly.” He grabbed his wand from his bedside table. “It’ll only take a few minutes, I promise.”

She closed her eyes as he waved it over her back and muttered something. An odd sensation began to spread across her upper back - it felt like a faint breeze, though at this time of year, Scorpius kept all his windows closed - as he clambered off the bed and over to his desk.

“Don’t move,” he warned from across the room.

“I won’t.”

When he rejoined her a moment later, he was unscrewing a jar of something. Once the top was off, he put it down and dipped the tips of his fingers into whatever was inside. The faint smell of lavender filled the air, and she breathed it in happily.

“What’s that?”

He leaned down to kiss her left shoulder, and then he laid his hands on her back. She let out a gasp - they were pleasantly cool and felt almost like mist on a rainy day. “Just something to help the bruising and the scratches.” He rubbed the cream into her back gently, and she let out a whimper.

“Are you sure it’s not just there to turn me on?” She heard him give a soft snort of laughter. “Because that’s what it’s - ah - doing.” He trailed his fingertips down her back, and sucked in her breath. “Scorpius -”

“Yes?” He began to run his hands along the rest of her back. Most of the strange cream was currently sitting below her left shoulder, but as he moved his hands, his touch left her skin tingling slightly. It was absolutely heavenly, and the aches in her back had already almost disappeared. “What _is_ that stuff, and where can I get some?”

He put the lid back on the jar and reached over her to place both it and his wand on his bedside table. “It’s a special Healer balm, and you can get it here.” She twisted her head up to look at him, and he grinned at the impatience on her face. “It’s not really available to the public. People have a tendency to misuse it. You can only get it from a Healer.”

“Oh.” She let her head fall back down onto her hands and sighed. “I guess it’s good that I have my own special Healer, isn’t it?”

“Mm.” He collapsed next to her. “Just lay there for another couple minutes to let the cream soak in. It shouldn’t take long.”

She inched over so she could rest her head on his leg. After a moment, she felt his fingers starting to comb through her hair, and she let out a contented sigh. “So do all your patients get this turned on when you use that cream on them? Should I be worried?”

Scorpius let out a chuckle. “No, it’s typically a lot more professional than that. Usually when I apply it, the people aren’t laying half naked in my bed, and I’m definitely not thinking about having sex with them later.”

Rose let her eyes drift closed. “You’re my favourite Healer ever.”

“Just your favourite Healer? I’m hurt.”

She nuzzled her face into his leg. “You’re also my favourite Slytherin and the best boyfriend ever.”

“Oh, good.” He pulled his hand away and began to run his fingers lightly up her back. She stiffened, and he began to trail them down again.

Rose’s back had always been very sensitive to the sort of light, trailing touch he was using right now, and it was taking all of her self control not to grab her boyfriend and strip him completely naked.

This desire dissipated somewhat when he took advantage of her inability to really move by reaching down her side and tickling her. When she recoiled involuntarily, he laughed and pulled her back toward him.

“Don’t be a jerk.” She couldn’t quite manage to keep the laugh out of her voice.

“Oh, am I being a jerk?” He edged his body over to hers, and after a moment she felt the warmth of his skin pressing against her side. “I didn’t mean to be a jerk.” He bent down to kiss her right shoulder, and when he moved his lips up to bite softly on her neck, his left hand began creeping up her back again. “I am so, so sorry,” he breathed in her ear, and she twitched. “Can you ever forgive me for it?”

Now his hand was reaching around her left side, and when he started to run his fingers lightly along the side off her breast, she let out a moan. “Scorpius...”

His other hand swept her hair off her neck, and after a moment of anticipation, she felt his lips there. “I love the way you smell,” he murmured.

Rose’s entire body was tingling at the point, and it had nothing to do with any potion or cream. “Scorpius, can I turn over now?”

He nipped at her earlobe gently before pulling away. “Oh, that? Yeah, you were good a few minutes ago. I just liked having you at my mercy.”

Rose rolled onto her shoulder and brought her gaze up to meet her boyfriend’s broad grin. “You are a jerk.”

He gave a shrug of acknowledgment and then reached out to pull her closer. “And yet somehow, I think that you’ll probably forgive me for that, too.” He put a hand behind her neck and leaned in for a kiss. She immediately deepened it and pressed her body against his. “Thought so,” he said when they broke away. She kissed him again, and this time, he reached down as he returned the kiss to unbutton her trousers. “Now, do you really need these?”

She grinned and lifted up her hips up so she could slide them off. “Do you need yours?” she shot back. She tossed hers onto the floor and was going to unbutton his when he caught her wrists.

“Wha -”

He cut her off by leaning down and kissing her. It was hungry and passionate, and Rose found herself responding without really processing anything but the feel of his lips against hers. He let go of her wrists and slid one hand down to rest over her knickers and the other around her back to pull her closer. She wound her arms around his neck and let her legs get tangled in his as he rolled her onto her back.

“I love you,” she managed to get out when they came up for breath. “What was that about?”

He smiled and brushed a few stray hairs back from her face. “It has to be something more than, ‘I love my girlfriend and I can’t keep my hands off of her?’”

“Well, when you put it that way...” She reached up to brush her lips against his one more time. “Come on. You’re overdressed, and your girlfriend wants more than your hands on her.”

That made him laugh. She was perfectly okay with that, since he also heeded her suggestion immediately.

After they finished, she would have been perfectly happy to fall asleep for awhile. However, Scorpius insisted that they both really did need to eat, and her stomach chose a very inopportune moment to growl. He treated them to what was either an early dinner or a very late lunch at a little cafe in Diagon Alley, and by the time they got back to his place, she was exhausted and quite happy to flop onto his exceedingly comfortable bed. One of the perks of staying with Scorpius for the night was that his bed was a lot better than hers.

“So,” he said after he’d crawled into bed with her. “Is that what you’re going to be like after every day in the field?”

“I dunno. Probably not.” She glanced up at him. “Disappointed?”

He shook his head. There was a small smile gracing his lips as well as her own - he seemed quite as satisfied and happy as she was. “Nah. I think if we did _that_ every night I’d die before I turned forty.” He glanced over at her. “D’you want to stay over tonight? I have work tomorrow, but I’d love to have you.”

“Haven’t you already had me?” He let out a snort of laughter and kissed her on the cheek. “Yeah, I’ll stay. I was planning on it.” She curled up against him. “So where were we?”

He looked at her for a moment before another grin broke across his face. “Just about here,” he said, running his hands underneath the oversized sweater she’d thrown on.


	16. Scorpius. --- The Aftermath of the Erkling.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius deals with the fallout of the Erkling attack and later gets drinks with Rose and the Potters.

It wasn’t easy to get up at half past six the following morning, but Scorpius forced himself to do it. He wanted the bonus points he was sure he’d get for coming in early even after the previous day, especially since McTaggart had seemed so pleased with his work. She’d indicated that on the other occasions he’d helped her, too, but this had been the first life-threatening injury treatment he’d been included in, and she was a very experienced Healer with real sway on the floor and in the hospital as a whole.

He got to work at 7:30 and headed to the break room; he needed coffee. Rose hadn’t kept him up too late, but he usually gave himself a little longer in between waking up and starting his workday so he could properly wake up.

He found Fukui and Wayne there. Fukui, whose demeanor toward him had continued to improve, greeted him with a smile and poured him a cup of coffee. Learning that Johanna was his cousin had changed her interactions with him so radically that he made a note to ask Jo if the two had ever dated.

Wayne, however, also managed a genuine smile. It was the first one he’d gotten from her, and it took him so long to process it that he was a little slow to return it. Thankfully, she looked more amused than offended.

“Good work yesterday,” she said as he took a sip from the mug Fukui handed him. “Kerrie said to tell you to come by when you got here - she was expecting you to be a little later, actually, but just head down when you’re ready.”

“Oh,” he said. “Thanks.”

She smiled at him again and swept out.

Fukui boosted herself up to sit on a table. “I think we got off on the wrong foot last week,” she said. “Hi. I’m Haruko Fukui.”

Scorpius slid into a seat and took another sip of coffee. “Nice to meet you. I’m Scorpius Malfoy. Er - pretty much everyone I love is really into danger, especially my Greengrass cousins and the Potter-Weasley clan. Apparently, opening with that would have made a difference.”

Fukui - or, rather, Haruko - smiled again. “It would have,” she told him. “You really _should_ open with that sort of thing.”

He shrugged. “I figured I should keep my private life - well, private.”

She threw back her head and laughed. “You think that’s really a possibility when you seem to know every other person who gets carted in here?”

He rolled his eyes. “Now you’re exaggerating.”

“Maybe a little.” She glanced toward the door and then swept her dark hair behind her shoulder. “So,” she said, lowering her voice. “I heard from Dom that your girlfriend did a good job yesterday.”

_That_ made him smile. “She did.”

Now the woman’s eyes were dancing. “He also said she was hot. Gorgeous girl who can heal and keep her head in the field - don’t suppose she likes women too and you’re planning to break up sometime soon, huh?” Scorpius shook his head, and Haruko snapped her fingers. “Damn. Any other Weasleys you could hook me up with?”

“Is that the only reason you’re being friendly?” he shot back.

“Nah. But there are some damn hot Weasley women out there. I meet someone with an in who isn’t a damn patient, it’s worth asking.”

He thought about it. “Dunno,” he said, trying to think of a graceful way to refuse without making it clear that half the problem with her request was that he really didn’t know most of the other Weasleys well enough to fulfill it even if he’d wanted to. “I’m closest with Rose and the Potters, honestly.”

She shrugged. “Well, it was a worth a try. So - Rose, is it?” He nodded. “How’d she feel about it all?”

“Good, I guess. She got a couple scratches from the Erkling and was annoyed at me when I insisted on cleaning them. So typical Rose, really.” Scorpius smiled. “I’m proud of her, though. A little jealous that when I left she was still asleep, but I think she probably needs it.”

“Oh! I didn’t realize you lived together.”

Scorpius felt his face get a little hot. “We don’t,” he said, hoping that the fact that he daydreamed about it at least once a week wasn’t clear from his expression but knowing that it probably was. He knew it wasn’t in the cards right now, particularly with the problems they’d been having, but that didn’t stop wishful thinking. “She just stayed over.”

Haruko, to her credit, didn’t push him further. “Needed to celebrate?” she asked. “Wanted to show your girlfriend how _proud_ you were of her?”

“You could say that.” He took another sip of coffee. He was starting to feel properly awake now, which was good - if he’d gone to check in with McTaggart in a less alert state, he was afraid he’d lose a lot of the good will he’d built up the day before.

Haruko was studying him again. Her eyes were narrowed slightly, as though he were a piece of a puzzle she was trying to put into place. “How long did you say that you’d been dating?”

Scorpius wasn’t quite sure he wanted to get into his love life to quite this extent with coworkers he barely knew and who’d started off their relationship is an unfriendly and, at times, downright hostile manner. At the same time, though, this really wasn’t _that_ personal, and since Rose seemed to really be a sticking point for these people, it was probably better to humor Haruko and just answer the question.

“About three and a half years. We started going out at the beginning of our fifth year.” He finished his coffee and set the mug down. “Thanks.”

She nodded and jerked her head toward the door. “Get going. Kerrie’s probably got something interesting for you to do.”

As it transpired, Kerrie McTaggart _did_ have something interesting for him to do. He helped her continue to heal and reapply balm to the wounds on the woman’s back. She had apparently woken up briefly the night before - long enough, he assumed, for Van Dedworth to talk to her - but now she looked as though she’d be out for awhile. That was probably just as well - most of the potions that helped with pain could be quite addictive. Of course, if a patient needed them, they were used… but it was best to avoid it when possible, and this woman looked to be in for a lengthy and uncomfortable recovery. She’d be using those potions frequently until she was ready to be discharged.

She’d probably need a Mind Healer, too, but that wasn’t really Scorpius’s area of expertise.

By the time they finished, it was mid-day. He was expecting to finally be sent back to the Loe Buckingham Ward, but to his surprise, McTaggart joined him for a quick bite to eat in the staff room and then kept him around to help her brew pain potions for the rest of the day. He got the okay to leave at five, but he could tell that she was pleased when he stuck around until the potions were done brewing. She even gave him a smile and clapped him on the shoulder, which was gratifying both on its own merits and because it was another indication that, little by little, he was getting through the wall the floor presented to outsiders.

When he got back to his flat, he found Rose curled up on his couch and buried in one of his books. “Hey,” he said, stopping in the doorway to his living room.

She started and looked up - apparently, she’d been so absorbed in the book that she hadn’t heard the front door open. Her face broke into a smile when she saw him, and she tossed the book aside and scrambled across the room to throw her arms around him. “Hi,” she breathed into his ear.

He returned the hug, unable to stop a similar grin from covering his own face. “Well, _that’s_ definitely a nicer way to come home than what I usually get.” She pulled back and stuck her tongue out at him. “Sorry I’m late.” He glanced at the clock. It was half past six. “I was helping McTaggart with some potions - she’s the one who healed that woman yesterday - who’s doing fine,” he added when she opened her mouth.

She closed it again and kissed his cheek. “You’re always late,” she said. “It’s more weird when you’re _not._ I guess that’s a Healer thing?”

“Sort of, yeah.” He glanced over at the mahogany side table next to the couch, where an off-white piece of parchment waited; he was pretty sure hadn’t been there when he’d left. “What’s up?”

She followed his gaze. “Oh, that’s from James and Albus. They basically said that we have to come meet them at the Leaky Cauldron.”

“Sure. Let me just take a quick shower.”

Scorpius wouldn’t have minded a quiet evening in - the week had been filled with its fair share of excitement - but the prospect of hanging out with the Potter boys was enough to draw him out without a fuss. He wanted to bounce his idea to ask his cousin Johanna to work with Albus on occlumency before mentioning it to Johanna herself, and to his surprise, he found that he was actually looking forward to catching up with James, too.

Even though it hadn’t really been that long since he’d seen the man.

Times had definitely changed.

To his considerable relief, neither James nor Albus made any jokes about why Rose still hadn’t been home. A major advantage in going out with your best friend’s cousin was that he typically felt too awkward to really tease either of them. Albus wasn’t really the sort to seriously tease, anyway, but he wasn’t above occasionally mocking his brother or his cousins about their love lives, and Scorpius was just as happy that Albus treated most jokes about Scorpius’s relationship with Rose like the minefield they indisputably were.

Once they’d all finished their first drinks, James jerked his head toward the bar. “You all up for another round?” At the chorus of assents, he looked at Scorpius. “Want to come help me carry?” he asked.

Albus and Rose, who had just begun discussing fieldwork - Albus, to his chagrin, was still a good chunk of time away from getting into the field - didn’t notice when the two men got up together and headed toward the bar.

“So,” said James. “How are you holding up?”

Scorpius shrugged. “Pretty well, actually. She did a really good job - that woman probably would have died without Rose’s healing when they first found her.”

“Oh? They actually told you about any of it?” When Scorpius shot him a surprised look, James grinned. “Al mentioned you were having some trouble getting into their club.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, at first I was, but it’s gotten better. I snapped at them last week - long story, but basically I said I was dating Rose and that I had friends and cousins in the D.C.B., Dragon Research, and the Aurors.”

James’s eyes were glittering. “Oh, are we friends now?”

Scorpius shoved him a little, and the dark-haired man grinned. “So they eased up on you after that?”

“Better. They keep pulling me out of the stupid ward they stick the residents in to do other stuff. I actually helped with the woman when they brought her in yesterday, and again this morning.”

James let out a low whistle. “Nice. The other residents getting any of that?” Scorpius shook his head. “Oh, I’m sure they _love_ you right about now.” He turned toward the bartender, who had stopped in front of them. “Welsh Green Cider, Hollow Brown Ale, Fizzy Fireball Whiskey…” He glanced over at Scorpius.

“Another Fizzy Fireball Whiskey,” he said.

James grinned as the bartender strode off to fill their drinks. “Good for you. Maybe Al and Rose will learn from our fine example. Oh, no,” he said when Scorpius dug in his pocket for some gold. “It’s on me.”

“The last round was on you,” Scorpius retorted. “This one’s on me.”

“Two galleons, ten sickles.” The bartender had returned.

Scorpius frowned. “Are you sure?” he asked, handing over the gold before James could voice any further protests and picked up two of the drinks.

The bartender jerked his head at somebody further down the bar. “Somebody paid for the lady’s drink already.”

Scorpius felt a stab of irritation as he scanned the bar. He didn’t see anyone he recognized. “Come on,” James said, nudging him. “I know who paid for it - you don’t need to be jealous. And thanks for the drink.”

Scorpius followed James back to the table. “Who?” he hissed.

James glanced back at the bar. “You see the man with dark hair, down on the end? In the green shirt?”

Scorpius looked back at the bar. The man looked vaguely familiar, though he couldn’t quite place him. “Yeah,” he said, feeling even more irritated. The man had to be at least fifteen years older than Rose, and he was already sitting with a woman.

“Scorpius. That’s her _boss._ Stop glaring at him, he’s going to notice if you don’t.”

“Oh.” Now he _did_ remember the man - he’d been at St. Mungo’s with Rose just the day before.

“Yeah. So calm down.”

When they deposited the drinks in front of Albus and Rose, both tried to pull out sickles to pay him back. “It’s on me,” he told Albus. “Really. And Rose, I didn’t even pay for yours.”

She frowned. “Huh? Then who did?” A faint wisp of smoke rose up from the cider, and Scorpius saw the words “Good job yesterday” glow across the surface of the liquid before vanishing. He followed her gaze to her boss, who was watching them now. He raised his glass in her direction, and she grinned back.

“Who’s _that?”_ Albus asked.

She looked back at him. “What? Oh, just my boss. That’s his sister Viv he’s sitting with.”

Albus glanced toward the bar again. “That’s the famous Van Dedworth, huh? Vic never mentioned that he was so - er - fit.” Scorpius glanced over at him, his eyebrows raised. “Well, he _is._ If I was Teddy, I’d be jealous, with how much she goes on about him.”

“Please. He’s like ten years older than her,” Rose told him. From his expression, Albus did not seem to think this mattered much. “And anyway, he’s - he’s got his own - er - girlfriend. Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“He makes your relationship with Bridget look normal.”

A faint tinge appeared on Albus’s cheeks, but he didn’t deny that he was in a relationship with Bridget. For him, that was definite progress. “Who with?”

Rose shrugged, but James didn’t seem to have any trouble spilling the latest gossip. “One of the heads of the division. Lavender.”

“Isn’t she the one with all the scars?” Scorpius and Albus both stole another look at the bar. Dedworth was now completely absorbed in conversation with his sister and didn’t appear to notice. “That’s... odd.” Rose shrugged again, and Albus shifted his attention to Scorpius. “So, Scorpius, are _you_ feeling a little jealous?”

Scorpius _was_ still feeling a little jealous - he hadn’t noticed the day before quite how good-looking Rose’s boss was - but his friend’s smile made it clear that it was supposed to be a joke, so he treated it like one. “Nah. Rose made me feel very appreciated last night. I’m not going to be feeling jealous of anyone for awhile.”

James let out a loud bark of laughter. “Appreciated, huh?”

“Very.” Rose shoved him gently, and he leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Love you.”

She wrinkled her nose at his tone, which was sickeningly sweet. “So I was thinking that tonight, I wanted the solitude of my own bed.”

He let the smug grin drop off his face. “And I’m done.”

“Thank you.”

The four of them fell into conversation that, thankfully, had nothing to do with anyone’s love life (or lack thereof). Albus, however, kept shooting curious glances toward the bar until Dedworth got up and left, and while Scorpius was enjoying the current conversation berating various public officials to interrupt it, he made a note to ask him about it later.

Rose caught Scorpius’s hand as they followed Albus and James toward the door when they’d finished. “Scorpius, I think I actually might just go home. I could use some alone time, and I’m a little tired.”

He wasn’t surprised. He’d have been tired, too. “Sure,” he said, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “Want me to stop by for a few hours tomorrow?”

She nodded and gave him a small smile. “Thanks.”

He stroked the side of her face. “I really do love you, sweetheart. I’m so proud of you.”

They joined James and Albus at the door. “You want to come back to our place?” James asked them both.

Rose shook her head, but Scorpius considered the offer. “Sure,” he said. “Rose, are you okay to apparate?”

She made a face. “Probably not,” she admitted as they stepped into the cool night air. “I’m definitely a little tipsy.”

“I’m going to take her home,” Scorpius told the other two men, who had stopped in front of the brick wall that led to Diagon Alley. “I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes?”

“Sure you will.” James winked. Both he and Albus turned on their heels and vanished with a loud crack.

Scorpius took Rose’s hand and did the same.


End file.
